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Piavthi  Glartflma  jiiate  Collie 

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BEING  A  SERIES  09 

AGRICULTURAL  ESSAYS, 
PRACTICAL  $  POLITICAL: 

In  Sixty-One  Numbers. 
Second  Edition. ...Revised  and  Enlarged. 


L? 


By  Col.  JOHN  TAYLOR, 
Hi 

Of  Carouse  CoisTr.  Virginia. 


Copy-Rkht  Secured. 
PRINTED    AND   PUBLISHED 

By  J.  M.  CARTER. 

Georgetown,    Columbia 


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Price  gl:~5,  in  boards. 


PREFACE; 


BY  THE  PUBLISHER. 


The  Publisher  of  the  following  essays  is  the 
first  who  has  offered  to  the  public  patronage,  an 
experimental  composition,  adapted  to  the  Soil,  Cli- 
mate and  Agriculture  of  the  greater  portion  of  the 
United  States  ;  and  so  far  as  his  knowledge  extends, 
it  is  the  first  of  the  kind  which  this  great  district  of 
country  has  produced.  He  is  not  qualified  tojudge 
of  its  merit,  and  can  only  infer  from  its  being  the 
work  of  a  successful  practical  farmer,  and  not  the 
offspring  of  interest  or  theory,  that  every  purchaser 
will  be  reimbursed  his  money  many  fold.  But  how- 
ever this  may  be,  the  Publisher  respectfully  states, 
that  rude  inventions  have  terminated  in  great  pub- 
lic good  ;  and  that  the  deficiency  of  graphical  merit 
in  the  agricultural  country,  for  which  the  composi- 
tion was  intended,  is  almost  as  strong  a  recommen- 
dation of  this  effort  towards  improvement,  as  the 
hierogliphicks  of  antiquity,  were  of  those  made  for 
the  discovery  of  letters.  An  encouragement  of  small 
improvements  is  the  parent  of  perfection  in  every 
art  and  science,  and  as  agriculture  is  the  queen  of 
the  whole  circle,  the  Publisher  has  thought  it  his 
duty  to  give  the  public  an  opportunity  of  awakening 
better  talents  and  greater  exertions,  for  occupying 
the  extensive  space  between  its  present  and  a  desi- 
rable condition. 

The  United  States  have  been  charged  with  a 
dearth  of  original  compositions.  Their  reach  of  Eu- 
ropean books  is  the  reason  of  the  fact,  so  far  as  it 
extends  to  moral  subjects  ;  whilst  the  multitude, 
novelty  and  usefulness  of  their  mechanical  inventi- 
ons, repels  an  insinuation,  that  it  arises  from  a  want 
of  genius  or  industry.  The  strongest  ground  of  the 
charge  is,  tne  deficiency  of  native  books  upon  agri- 
culture. Whilst  the  country  was  fresh,  it  was  natu- 
ral for  the  inhabitants  to  neglect  the  subject  in  the 


417* 


PREFACE. 

midst  of  abundance;  but  its  evident  impoverishment, 
ought  to  have  suggested  to  us  the  necessity  of  na- 
tive remedies  for  local  errors  ;  and  the  incongruitv 
of  English  books  upon  agriculture,  with  the  climates, 
soils  and  habits  of  the  United  States.  This  incon- 
gruity by  drawing  ridicule  upon  imitators,  too  often 
extinguishes  a  patriotic  ardour,  and  checks  instead 
of  advancing  improvement. 

If  the  book  now  offered  to  the  public  should  have 
no  other  good  effects  but  those  of  suggesting  the  ne- 
cessity of  writing  for  ourselves  on  the  subject,  and 
introducing  some  taste  for  such  discussions,  the  com- 
pensation to  the  Publisher  for  his  labour  will  be  am- 
ply repaid.  To  this  taste,  the  agriculture  of  Europe 
in  general,  and  of  Britain  in  particular,  is  indebted 
for  a  vast  improvement  within  the  last  century,  and 
a  similar  spirit  in  the  United  States  will  undoubtedly 
produce  similar  effects.  Every  class  of  men  will  be 
benefitted  by  it.  The  Merchant  will  receive  more 
produce,  and  sell  more  goods.  The  demands  upon 
the  Manufacturer  will  extend  to  more  and  finer 
commodities.  Lawyers  and  Physicians  will  have 
richer  clients  and  patients,  and  receive  better  fees. 
The  Politician  m«y  find  more  resources  for  defend- 
ing his  country,  maintaining  her  independence  and 
rewarding  patriotism.  The  Printers  will  sell  more 
books  and  newspapers.  And  the  Parmer,  though 
the  fountain  from  which  all  these  benefits  must  flow, 
as  receiving  first  the  fruits  of  improvement,  will 
make  them  subservient  to  his  own  happiness,  before 
he  diffuses  them  to  advance  the  happiness  of  others. 
A  tendency  to  bed  prosperity  over  ah  q  -se  classes, 
has  some  c.  .  ^cnt  ral  encouragement,  and  whilst 

the  Publisher  respectfully  solicits  the  public  patron- 
age on  this  ground,  he  also  confidently  hopes,  that 
a  considerable  portion  both  of  amusement  and  in- 
formation will  be  found  in  the  following  sheets. 


ABATOR. 

NUMBER^. 


IHt    ERBSENT    STATE    OF    AGRICULTURE. 

I  shall  consider  in  a  succession  of  short  es- 
says, the  present  state  of  agriculture  in  the 
United  States,  its  oppressions  and  defects,  and 
the  remedies,  political  and  domestic,  which  it 
Tieeds.  It  is  confessed  however,  that  the  chief 
knowledge  of  the  author,  as  to  modes  of  agri- 
culture is  confined  to  the  states  of  Maryland, 
Virginia  and  North-Carolina.  And  therefore, 
whilst  his  remarks  in  relation  to  its  political 
state,  will  generally  apply  to  the  whole  union, 
those  in  relation  to  these  modes,  will  particu- 
larly apply  to  all  states  using  slaves,  or  to  the 
three  enumerated  states. 

Mr.  Strickland,  an  Englishman,  reputed 
to  he  sensihie  and  honest,  puhlished  at  London 
in  the  year  1801,  a  pamphlet  upon  the  agricul- 
ture of  the  United  States,  being  the  result  of 
his  own  observation,  during  a  considerable  pe- 
riod spent  in  travelling  through  the  country, 
for  the  special  purpose  of  investigating  it.... 
The  judgment  of  this  impartial  stranger  ap- 
pears in  the  following  quotations. — Page  20"  : 
"  Land  in  America  affords  little  pleasure  or 
profit,  and  appears  in  a  progress  of  continually 
alfordirig  less." — P.  31  :  "  Virginia  is  in  a  ra- 
pid decline.'* — P.  38  ;  "  Land  in  New-York, 
formerly  producing  twenty  bushels  to  the 
acre,  now  produces  only  ten." — 1\  11  :  ••  Lit 
2. 


Library 
N .  C  State  College 


|i  IB.-Z  PEE;E5T   sliTX, 

lie  profit  can  be  found  in  the  present  mode  of 
agriculture  of  this  country,  and  I  apprehend  it 
to  be  a  fact  that  it  affords  a  bare  lee." 

P.  i.3  :  ••  Virginia  is  the  southern  limit  of  my 
enquiries,  because  agriculture  had  there  al- 
ready arrived  to  its  lowest  -rate  of  degradati- 
on.''— P.  4  9  :  '<  The  land  owners  in  this  state 
are?  with  a  few  exceptions,  in  low  ran- 

ce-  :  the  inferior  rank  of  them  wrc  i  the 

extremes* — P.  5,' :  ••  Decline  has  pervaded  all 
the  stat.-." 

These  conclusions,  if  true,  are  awfully 
threatning  to  the  libeityand  prosperity  of  a 
country,  whose  hostage  for  both  is  agriculture. 
An  order  of  men.  canting  a  hare  subsistence, 
in  law  rircumstaneeSj  and  -those  inferior  rank 
is  wretched  in  the  udretac,  cannot  possibly  con- 
stitute a  moral  force,  adequate  to  either  ob- 
ject. Ii  is  therefore  highly  important  to  the 
agricultural  elass,  to  ascertain  whether  it  is 
.  that  agriculture  is  in  a  decline. — A  de- 
cline tei  ery  other  progress,  at 
the  end  bfits  tendency. 

Upon  reading  the  opinion  of  this  disinter- 
ested fereigner,  my  impressions  were,  indigna- 
tion, alarm,  conviction  :  inspired  successively, 
by  a  love  for  my  country,   a  fear  for  its  wel- 
b,  and  a  reeolleetion  of  facts. 

The  terrible  farts,  that  the  strongest  chord 
which  vibrat  es  on  the  heart  of  man,  cannot  tie 
pie  to  the  natal  spot,  that  they  view  it 
with  horror,  and  flee  from  it  to  new  climes 
with  Joy,  determine  f;ur  agricultural  pi 
to  l-c  a  progress  of  emigration,  and  net  of  im- 
provi -rm nt  :  and  lead  to  an  ultimate  recoil 
from  this  exhausted resource,,  toaa  e.\hausud 
atry. 


<IF  AGRIGULTURE.  It 

K  UMBER  2. 


THE  PRESENT  STATE  OF  AGRICULTURE, 
CONTINUED. 


A  patient  must  know  that  he  is  sick,  before  he 
will  take  physic.  A  collection  of  a  few  facts, 
to  ascertain  the  ill  health  of  agriculture,  is  ne- 
cessary to  invigorate  our  efforts  towards  a  cure. 
One,  apparent  to  the  most  superficial  observer, 
is,  that  our  land  has  diminished  in  fertility. — 
Arts  improve  the  work  of  nature — When  tliey 
injure  it,  they  are  not  arts,  but  barbarous  cus- 
toms. It  is  the  office  of  agriculture  as  an  art, 
not  to  impoverish,  but  to  fertilize  the  soil,  and 
make  it  more  useful  than  in  its  natural  state. 
Such  is  the  effect  of  every  species  of  agricul- 
ture, which  can  aspire  to  the  character  of  an 
art. ...Its  object  being  to  furnish  man  with  ar- 
ticles of  the  first  necessity,  whatever  defeats 
that  object,  is  a  crime  of  the  first  magnitude. 
Had  men  a  power  to  obscure  or  brighten  the 
light  of  the  sun,  by  obscuring  it,  they  would 
imitate  the  morality  of  diminishing  the  ferti- 
lity of  the  earth.  Is  not  one  as  criminal  as 
the  other  ?  Yet  it  is  a  fact,  that  lands  in  their 
natural  state,  are  more  valuable,  than  those 
which  have  undergone  our  habit  of  Agricul- 
ture, of  which  emigrations  are  complete 
proofs. 

The  decay  of  a  multitude  of  small  towns, 
so  situated  as  to  depend  for  support  on  unal- 
terable districts,  is  another  proof  of  the  impo- 
verishment of  the  soil.  It  is  true,  that  a  few 
large  towns  have  grown  up,  but  this  is  owing, 


12-  THE  PEESE5T  STATE 

not  to  an  increased  product,  but  to  an  increas- 
ed; whereas,  in  every  ease,  where 
pasture  is   limited,  or   isolated   In    local  eir- 
-             .    small   towns    l^c    sprung    up, 
he  lands,  were  fresh^   and  decayed-, 
they  v. ere  worn  out.     I  have  no   facts  to  as- 
certain certainly  the  products  of  Agriculture 
liSerent  periods  relatively   to  the  number 
of  i  oil  would  furnish  a  demonstrati- 
e.     But  I  have  understood,   tJ 

of  tobacco,  wercex- 
.  oiu  Virginia,  when  it  contained  a! 
one-fourth   of  its  present  population*     If  so, 
had  the  fertility  of  tbe  country  remained   un- 
diminished, Virginia  ought  now  to  export  two 
hundred  and  forty  thousand  hogsheads,  or  an 
equivalent.     In  this  estimate,  every  species  of 
jii  cxeept  tobacco,    is  excluded    at  one 
epoeh,  and  exports  of  every  kind  included  at 
'  •!  (he latter  would   fall  far  short 

of  exhibiting  the  equivalent  necessary  to  bring 
9ting,  as  to  agriculture,  with  <b* 
former.     Two  hundred   and    forty    thousand 
hoj.-  r tobacco,  which, op  an  equivalent, 

Virginia  would  now  export,  if  the  state  of 
agriculture  had  been  as  nourishing  as  it  wa* 
b  past,  at  the  present  va- 
lue, by  which  all  our  exports  are  rated,  would 
be  worth  above  seventeen  millions  of  dollars  ; 
and  g  Virginia  to  furnish  one  seventh 

part  of  the  native  agricultural  exports  of  tbe 
ht  now  to  amount  to 
-.-lie  hun<  millions    of  dollars, 

had  the  products  of  agriculture  kej>t  |tace  with 
increase  of  population.     If  this  statement 
is  n*n  exactly  correct,  enough'  of  it  certain h  i» 
so,  to  demonstrate  a  rapid  impoverisl  meat  of 
■f  the  United  States. 


OF  AGtllCUXTUTLE.  13 

The  decay  of  the  culture  of  tobacco  is  te^ti 
mony  to  this  unwelcome  fact.  It  is  deserted 
because  the  la  ids  are  exhausted.  To  conceal 
from  ourselves  a  disagreeable  truth,  we  resort 
to  the  delusion,  that  tobacco  requires  new  or 
fresh  land;  whereas  every  one  acquainted 
with  the  plant  knows  that  its  quantity  and 
quality,  as  is  the  case  with  most  or  all  plants, 
are  both  greatly  improved  by  manured  land, 
or  land,  the  fertility  of  which  has  been  artifi- 
cially increased.  Whole  counties  compri- 
sing large  districts  of  country,  which  once 
grew  tobacco  in  great  quantities,  are  now  too 
sterile  to  grow  anv  of  moment :  and  the  wheal 
erops  substituted  for  tobacco,  have  already 
sunk  to  an  average  below  profit. 

From  the  mass  of  facts,  to  prove  that  tho 
fertility  of  our  country  has  been  long  declin- 
ing, ami  that  our  agriculture  is  in  a  miserable 
state,  I  shall  only  select  one  more.  The  ave- 
rage of  our  native  exports,  is  about  forty  mil- 
lions of  dollars  annually.  Some  portion  of 
this  amount  consists  of  manufactures*  the  ma- 
terials for  which  are  not  furnished  by  agricul- 
ture ;  another,  as  is  extensively  the  fact  in  the 
•  of  flour,  has  passed  through  the  hands  oi 
the  manufacturer.  Of  the  first  portion  he 
receives  the  v\  hole  price,  of  the  second  a  pro- 
portion. And  a  third  portion  of  our  products 
is  obtained  from  the  sea.  Of  the  forty  milli- 
ons exported,  agriculture  therefore  receive.* 
about  thirty  five.  The  taxes  of  every  kind, 
state  and  federal.  m:y  be  estimated  at  twenty 
millions  of  dollars,  of  which  agriculture  pays 
at  least  fifteen,  leaving  twenty  millions  of  her 
exports  for  her  own  use.  Counting  all  the 
slaves  who  ought  to  be  counted  both  as  sour- 


14  THE    l'KEsENT  sTATE 

ccs  of  product  and  expenee  in  estimating  the 
state  of  agriculture,  the  people  of  the  U.tited 
States,  may  probably  amount  to  about  se^en 
millions,  and  it  may    be  fairlv  assumed,  tl 
the  interest  or  occupation    of  six    millions 
these  seven,  is  agricultural.     Of  the    whole 
surplus  product  of  agriculture  exported,  after 
deducting  the  taxes  it  pays,  t!\ 
each  individual  a  few  cents   a  dol- 

lars.    Out  of  this  mass  of  pi* 
for  the    manufactures,   luxuries  and 
lies  he  consumes,  not  raised  by  L 
the  only  remaining  article  tube  carried  to 
credit  of  rgiiculture,  is  the   small  gain  it 
live?  from    its   domestic  sales,   not  to    itself, 
•m  sclcs  by  one  of  its  members  to  ano- 
Jier,  for  that  docs  not  enrich  it.  but  to  other 
classes,  Such  as   manufacturers   an  J  soldiers. 

•ir.st  the  former,  agrieolture  is  to  be  debit- 
ed  with  the    bounties  she  is-  made  b^ 
pay  them 5  against  the  latter^  she  Las  been 
already   debited  by  deducting  her  taxes  f: 
her  exports.     Neither  can  be  a  soi 

alth  or  profit  to  her.  because  in  one 
furnishes  the  money  by  taxation,  and  in  the  o- 
thcr  by  bounties,  vith  which  I 
purchased.     It  is  therefore 
Jiie  income  of  agriculture  is  :  'ar» 

per  poll,  and  that  this  income  i  and 

for  supplying  her  wants  and  cxtti  im- 

provements.    This  estimate  ; 
correct,  than  one  drawn  fi  6m  individual 
or  poverty.     To  infer  from  the  fust  ti 
ry  booy  might  become  rich  as  a  defence  of  our 

ienliural  regimen,  would  be  a  conclusion  as 
fallacious,  as  to  infer  from  the 

■  ■ 


0*   AUKlCCLlliRE.  1* 

badness.  Extraordinary  talents  or  industry 
"will  produce  extraordinary  effects*  Instan- 
ces of  happiness  or  wealth  under  a  despotism, 
do  not  prove  that  its  regimen  is  calculated  for 
general  wealth  or  happiness.  A  system,  com- 
mercial, political  or  agricultural,  so  wretched 
as  nut  to  exhibit  cases  of  individual  prosperi- 
ty, has  never  appeared,  because  an  universal 
scourge  would  he  universally  abhorred.  It  i9 
uot  from  partial,  but  general  facts,  that  we 
can  draw  a  correct  knowledge  of  our  agricul- 
ture. Even  a  personal  view  of  the  country, 
might  deceive  the  thoughtless,  because  neither 
the  shortness  of  life,  nor  the  gradual  impove- 
rishment of  laud,  are  calculated  to  establish  ;i 
visible  standard  of  comparison.  A  man  must 
be  old  and  possess  a  turn  for  observation  front 
his  youth,  to  be  able  to  judge  eorrecHy  from 
this  source.  I  have  known  many  farms  1V 
above  forty  years,  and  though  1  think  that  all 
of  them  have  been  greatly  impoverished,  y< 
1  rely  more  upon  the  general  facts  1  have  sta- 
ted for  agreeing  with  Strickland  in  opinion 
••  that  the  agriculture  of  the  United  States 
affords  only  a  hare  subsistence — that  the  fer- 
tility of  our  lands  is  gradually  declining — and 
that  the  agriculture  of  Virginia  has  arrived  to- 
the  lowest  state  of  degradation*?' 


16  tiie  Political  state 

NUMBER  3. 

THE  POLITICAL  STATE  OF    AGRICULTURE. 

In  collecting  the  causes  which  hare  contri- 
buted to  th«'  miserable  agricultural  state  of  the 
country  as  it  is  a  national  calamity  of  the  high- 
est magnitude,  ve  should  be  careful  not  to  be 
Minded  by  partiality  for  our  customs  or  insti- 
tutions, nor  corrupted  by  a  disposition  to  flat- 
ter ourselves  or  ethers.  1  shall  begin  with 
those  of  a  political  nature.  These  are  a  se- 
condary providence,  which  govern  unseen  the 
great  interests  of' society  :  and  if  agricul' 
is  bad  and  languishing  in  a  country  and  cli- 
mate, where  it  may  be  good  and  prosperous, 
no  doubt  remains  with  me.  that  political  insti- 
tutions have  chiefly  perpetrated  the  evil  :  just 
as  they  decide  the  fate  »f  commerce. 

The  device  of  subjecting  it  to  the  payment 
of  bounties  to  manufacturing,  is  an  institution 
of  this  hind.  This  device  is  one  item  in  every 
system  for  rendering  governments  too  strong 
for  nations.  Such  an  object  never  was  and  ne- 
ver can  be  effected,  except  by  factions  legally 
created  at  the  publick  expence.  The  wealth 
transferred  from  the  nation  to  such  factions,  de- 
votes them  to  the  will  of  the  government,  by 
which  it  is  bestowed.  They  must  renderthe  ser- 
vice for  which  it  was  given,  orit  would  be  tarken 
away.  It  is  unexceptionable  given  to  support  a 
government  against  a  nation,  or  cue  faction 
against  another.  Armies,  loaning,  banking, 
and  an  intricate  treasury  system,  endowing  a 


OF  AGRICULTURE.  17 

government  with  the  absolute  power  of  apply- 
ing public  money,  tinder  the  cover  of  nominal 
cheek?.,  are  ether  devices  of  this  kind.  "What- 
ever strength  or  wealth  a  government  and  its 
legal  tactions  acquire  by  law.  is  taken  from  a 
nation  :  and  whatever  is  taken  from  a  nation, 
weakens  and  impoverishes  that  interest,  which 
composes  the  niajority.  There,  political  »p: 
pressicn  in  every  form  must  finally  fall*  how- 
ever it  may  oscillate  during  the  period  el 
transit  from  a  good  to  a  bad  government. 
as  sometimes  to  scratch  factious-.  Agricul- 
ture being  the  interest  covering  a  great  majo- 
rity of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  every 
device  for  getting  money  or  power,  hatched 
by  a  fellow-feeling  or  common  interest,  be- 
tween a  government  and  its  legal  creatures, 
must  of  course  weaken  and  impoverish  it. — 
Desertion,  for  the  sake  of  reaping  without  la- 
bor, a  share  in  the  harvest  of  wealth  and  pow- 
er, bestowed  by  laws  at  i'.s  cxpence,  thins  its 
ranks;  an  annual  tribute  to  these  legal  facti- 
ons, empties  its  purse  ;  and  poverty  debilitates 
both  its  soil  and  understanding. 

The  device  of  protecting  duties,  under  th& 
\n\  iext  of  encouraging  manufactures,  operates 
like  its  kindred,  by  creating  a  capitalist  inter- 
est, which  instantly  seizes  upon  the  bounty  taken 
by  law  from  agriculture  ;  and  instead  of  doing 
any  good  to  the  actual  workers  in  wood,  me- 
tals, cotton  or  other  suhstanccs.it  helps  to  rear 
up  an  aristocrat ieal  order  at  the  expenec  of 
tUe  workers  in  earth,  to  unite  with  govern- 
ments in  oppressing  every  species  of  useful  in- 
dustry. 

The  products  of  agriculture  and  manufac- 
turing, unshackled  by  law, would  seek  each  fut- 


IS  THL  POLITICAL  STaTC 

ne#* 
oial  channels,  bttl  these  markets  would  bu: 

ever  be  the   same;  protecting  du«i»  s  tie  tra- 

-rs  together,  whose  business  and  intc 
lie  i:i  <]]."  re  upon 

nature,  will,  like  ail  unnatural  ligatures,  wea- 
ken or  kill.     The  best  marki 
eui:  i  -,  whilst  ihe  ! 

i  ket;  of  v.uv  Dianofaetorefl  are  at  home-— * 
Our  agriculture  has  to  cross  the  ocean,  and 
encounter  a  competition  with  foreign  agri- 
culture on  its  own  ground.  Our  manufactures 
meet  at  home  a  competition  with  foreign  manu- 
factures. The  disadvantages  of  the  first  com- 
petition., suffice  to  excite  all  the  efforts  of  agri- 
culture to  Bare  her  life  :  the  advantages  of 
the  second  suffice  gradually  to  bestow  a  sound 
constitution  on  manufacturing.  But  the  ma- 
nufacture of  an  aristocratical  interest,  under 
the  pretext  of  encouraging  work  of  a  very  dif- 
ferent nature,  may  reduce  both  manufacturers 
and  husbandmen,  as  Strickland  says  is  already 
effected  in  the  ease  of  the  latter,  to  the  lowest 
state  of  degradation." 

This  degradation  could  never  have  been  seen 
by  a  friend  to  either,  who  could  afterwards 
approve  of  protecting  duties.  Let  us  take  the 
article  of  wheat  to  unfold  an  idea  of  the  disad- 
vantages w  Inch  have  produced  it.  If  w  heat  is 
Wforth  HTs.  sterling  m  England  the  rolb.  the 
fan.  it    here  at  about  6s.   sterling. — 

American  agriculture  then  nu  i-h  agri- 

culture in  a  competition,  compelling  her  to  sell 
at  little  more  than  one  third  of  the  price  ob- 
tained by  her  rival.  But  American  manu- 
factures take  the  field  against  English  on 
very  different  terms.    These  competitors  meet 


Or  AGRICULTURE.  19 

in  the  United  States.  The  American  manu- 
factures receive  first,  a  bounty  equal  to  the 
freight,  commission  and  English  taxes,  upon 
their  English  rivals  ;  and  secondly,  a  bounty 
equal  to  our  own  necessary  imposts.  Without 
protecting  duties  therefore  the  American  ma- 
nufacturer gets  for  the  same  article,  about  25 
per  cent,  more,  and  the  American  agricultu- 
rist about  180  per  cent,  less,  than  their  Eng- 
lish rivals.  Protecting  duties  added  to  these 
inequalities,  may  raise  up  an  order  of  masters 
lor  actual  manufacturers,  to  intercept  advan- 
tages too  enormous  to  escape  the  vigilance  of 
capital,  impoverish  husbandmen,  and  aid  in 
changing  a  fail  to  a  fraudulent  government ; 
but  they  will  never  make  either  of  these  in- 
trinsically valuable  classes  richer,  wiser  or 
freer. 


i  hl,  politic  _vx  ^tati 


NUMBER  1. 


"HE   PC 


In  fins  number]  shall  consider  a  reason  Tor 
protecting  duties  to  encourage  manufactures, 
which  if  h  i>  sound;  overturns  the  whole  argu- 
ment against  them.  In  every  essay  en  behalf 
of  manufactures,  we  are  told,  that  by  emu  g 
tliis  class  with  bounties  and  privileges.  v*e 
shall  both  make  ourselves  independent  of  fo- 
reign nations,  and  also  provide  a  market  for 
agricultural  labour,  as  an  aristocracy  in  all  its 
forms  is  a  market  for  labour.  And  the  h 
price  of  wheat  in  England,  is  contrasted  with 
its  low  price  here,  to  prove  the  latter  ass. 
on.  It  Mould  he  sounder  reasoning  to  contrast 
the  high  price  of  manufactures  here,  with  the 
low  price  there,  to  prove  that  they  ought  to 
give  bounties  to  agriculture  to  provide  a  mar- 
ket for  manufactures.  Nations  and  individu- 
als are  universally  promised  wealth  by  politi- 
cal swindlers. — The  English  price  for  wheat, 
is  coupled  with  the  English  political  system. 
Without  adopting  the  causes  of  that  price*  the 
effects  springing  from  these  causes  cannot 
follow.  The  idle  classes  of  the  nobility,  cler- 
gy, army.  navy,  hankers  and  national  debt 
holders,  with  their  servants  and  dependents, 
are  the  items  of  an  aristocracy,  which  has  re- 
duced the  agricultural  class  to  a  poor  and 
powerless  state,  by  the  juggle  of  persuading  it 
io  buy  high  prices,  by  creating  and  maim. 


©F  AGRICULTURE.  21 

ing  these  idle  classes.  The  national  debt 
alone  maintains  more  people,  than  there  are 
agriculturists  in  Britain.  These  do  not 
amount  to  a  tenth  part  of  the  nation.  It  is  to 
this  combination  of  causes,  and  not  to  manu- 
factures singly,  that  the  English  agriculture 
is  indebted  for  its  high  prices. 

These  very  prices  are  themselves  proofs  of 
the  oppression  which  produced  them.  They 
are  the  effect  of  the  tendency  which  industry 
has  to  recover  back  some  equivalent  from 
fraud,  and  of  the  necessity  ofi*k»  fraud  to  ex- 
tend some  encouragements  to  industry.  But 
shall  we  oppress  our  agriculture,  merely  to 
demonstrate  that  abuses  have  a  tendency  to 
excite  countervailing  efforts,  and  load  it  with 
English  impositions,  for  the  sake  of  the  inade- 
quate reimbursement  of  English  prices  ? 

Let  him  who  hopes  to  live  to  see  the  agricul- 
tural class  of  the  United  States,  reduced  by 
English  policy  to  a  tenth  part  of  the  nation, 
undertake  to  prove,  that  such  a  reduction  would 
be  a  proof  of  its  prosperity.  If  he  could  de- 
fend such  a  theory,  he  would  at  last  be  prac- 
tically disappointed,  unless  our  manufactures 
should  drive  the  English  manufactures  out  of 
the  world,  and  occupy  their  place.  The  inge- 
nious device  of  agrieulture  in  England,  in  bes- 
towing money  on  noble,  clerical,  military  aud 
chartered  idlers,  for  the  sake  of  selling  its 
products  to  get  back  a  part  of  its  own,  would 
turn  out  still  more  miserably,  except  for  the 
vast  addition  to  the  manufacturing  class,  by 
foreign  demands  for  its  labor.  If  England 
only  manufactured  for  herself,  her  manufac- 
turers would  constitute  but  a  wretched  market 
for  Agriculture.    One  labourer  feeds  many 

a. 


22  THE  POLITICAL  STATE 

manufacturers.  One  manufacturer  supplies 
man}  labourers.  Before  the  promise  of  Eng- 
lish  prices  for  bread  and  meat,  tobacco  and 
eottou,  can  be  realized,  from  driving  in  manu- 
facturing by  protecting  duties,  we  must  be  able 
to  drive  out  manufactures  by  protecting  fleets 
into  every  quarter  of  the  globe;  and  so  like 
some  booby  heirs,  take  up  a  parents  follies, 
at  the  period  he  is  forced  to  lay  them  down. 

SiilJ  more  hopeless  is  the  promise  of  the 
manufacturing  mania,  "that  it  will  make  us 
independent  of  foreign  nations,"  when  com- 
biued  wiih  its"*oftier  promise  ef  providing  a 
market  for  agriculture.  The  promise  ^  f  a 
market,  as  we  see  in  the  experience  of  Eng- 
land, ean  only  be  made  good,  by  reducing  the 
agricultural  class  to  a  tenth  part  of  the  na- 
tion, and  increasing  manufacturers  bv  great 
liianufaetural  exportations.  This  reduction 
can  only  be  accomplished  by  driving  or  sedu- 
cing above  nine-tenths  of  the  agricultural 
class,  into  other  classes,  and  the  increase  by  a 
brave  and  patriotic  navy.  Diseoutent  and 
misery  will  be  the  fruits  of  the  first  operation, 
and  these  would  constitute  the  most  forlorn 
hope  for  success  in  the  second.  By  exchang- 
ing hardy,  honest  and  free  husbandmen  for  the 
classes  necessary  to  reduce  the  number  of 
agriculturists,  low  enough  to  raise  the  prices  of 
tli.ii-  products,  shall  we  become  more  inde- 
pendent of  foreign  nations?  What!  Secure 
our  independence Tvj  bankers  and  capitalists  ? 
St  cure  our  independence  by  impoverishing, 
discouraging  and  annihilating  nine-tenths  of 
our  sound  yeomanry  :  By  turning  them  into 
swindlers,  and  dependents  ou  a  master  capi- 
talist for  daily  bread. 


OF    AGRICULTURE.  23 

There  are  two  kinds  of  independence,  real 
and  imaginary.  The  first  consists  of  the 
right  of  national  self-government  ;  the  second 
of  individual  taste  or  prejudice.  The  yeo- 
manry of  the  forest  are  best  calculated  to  pre- 
serve the  first  and  the  yeomanry  of  the  loom 
are  hest  calculated  to  feed  the  second.  A  sur- 
render of  the  first  to  obtain  the  second,  would 
be  a  mode  of  securing  our  independence, 
like  England's  converting  her  hardy  tars  into 
barbers  and  tailors,  in  order  to  become  inde- 
pendent of  French  fashions.  ^. 

The  manufacturing  mania  accuses  the  agri- 
cultural spirit,  of  avarice  and  want,  of  patriot- 
ism, whilst  it  offers  to  bribe  it  by  a  prospect 
of  better  prices,  whittles  down  independence 
into  cargoes  of  fancy  goods,  and  proposes  to 
metamorphose  nine-tenths  of  the  hardy  sons 
of  the  forest  into  every  thing  but  heroes,  for 
the  grand  end  of  gratifying  the  avarice  of  a 
capitalist,  monied  or  paper  interest. 

Opinion  is  sometimes  prejudice,  sometimes 
zeal,  and  often  craft.  These  counterfeits  of 
truth  have  universally  deluded  the  majority 
of  nations  into  the  strange  conclusion,  that  it 
will  flourish  by  paving  bounties  to  undertakers 
for  national  salvation,  for  national  wealth,  and 
for  national  independence.  The  first  impos- 
ture is  detected. the  second  beginstobe  strong- 
ly suspected,  but  the  third  has  artfnlly  provo- 
ked its  trial,  at  a  moment  when  it  can  conceal 
the  cheat  under  the  passions  excited  by  transi- 
tory circumstances.  Hatred  of  England — a 
pretended  zeal  tor  national  honour;  and  the 
real  craft  of  advancing  the  pecuniary  interest 
of  a  few  capitalists  ;  have  conspired  to  paint 
a  protecting  duty  system,  into  so  strong  a  re- 


2*  THE  P&LITICJlL  STATE 

semblance  of  patriotism  and  honesty,  as  te 
lead  agriculture  by  a  bridle  made  of  her  vir- 
tue and  ignorance,  towards  the  worship  of  an 
idol;  compounded  of  folly  and  wickedness.' 


Library 
N.  C.  State  College 


OF  AGRICULTURE.  25 


NUMBER  5. 


THE  POLITICAL   STATE  OF   AGRICULTURE, 
CONTINUED. 


English  Agriculture  has   completely  tried 
the  project  of  enriching  itself,  by  buying  mar- 
kets with  bounties.     It  has  provided   more  of 
these  markets,    than  the    agriculture  of  any 
other  nation.     Yet  it  is  unable  to  feed  its  own 
people,  many  of  whom  are  indebted  to  foreign 
agriculture  for  daily  bread.     No  profession  in 
England  is  deficient  in  hands,  but  the  agricul- 
tural, and  none  other  a  cypher  in  government. 
They  have  Lords,  Bishops,  officers  civil  and 
military,  soldiers,  sailors,  bankers,  loanersand 
capitalists  in  abundance,  and  all  of  them  have 
an   influence  in  the  government.     These   are 
the  markets  in  which  the   English  agricultu- 
rists have  successively  laid  out  their  money, 
in  order  to  get  good  prices,  and  the  more    of 
these  markets  they  buy,  the  less  liberty  and 
wealth  they  retain. 

If  the  agriculture  of  the  United  States 
would  only  consider  how  it  happens,  that  it 
can  yet  live  upon  six  shillings  sterling  a  bushel 
for  wheat,  when  the  English  agriculture  is 
perishing  with  sixteen,  the  film  drawn  over  its 
eyes  by  the  avarice  with  which  those  charge 
it,  who  design  to  cheat  it,  would  fall  off.  The 
solution  of  the  apparent  wonder,  lies  in  the 
delusion  of  buying  price  by  bounties.  The 
bounties  are  partly,  but  never  completely  re- 
imbursed by  the  price.  Though  the  payer  of 
the   bounties  gets  more  price,  he  gains  les* 


26  THE  POLITICAL  STATE 

profit  than  from  the  lower  price,  when  he  paid 
no  bounties.  Therefore  the  receivers  of  the 
bounties  become  rich  and  idle,  and  the  receiv- 
ers of  the  price,  poor  and  laborious.  And  this 
effect  is  inevitable,  because  the  bounties  must 
for  ever  outrun  the  prices  they  create,  or  no 
body  could  subsist  on  them.  If  the  bounty 
paid  was  equal  to  one  shilling  a  bushel  on 
wheat,  and  should  raise  the  price  nine  pence, 
the  receivers  of  the  bounty  would  gain  three 
pence  a  bushel  on  all  the  wheat  of  the  nation, 
and  agriculture  would  lose  it,  though  it  got  a 
higher  price.  And  this  obvious  fraud  is  pre- 
cisely the  result  of  every  promise  in  every 
form  made  by  charter  and  privilege  to  enrich 
or  encourage  agriculture. 

The  agriculture  of  the  United  States  found 
itseli'in  the  happiest  situation  for  prosperity 
imaginable  at  the  end  of  the  revolutionary 
Avar.  It  had  not  yet  become  such  an  egregi- 
ous gudgeon  as  to  believe,  that  by  giving  ten 
millions  of  dollars  every  year  to  the  trihe  of 
undertakers  to  make  it  rich  they  would  return 
it  twenty  ;  and  it  could  avail  itself  of  all  the 
markets  in  the  world,  where  this  ridiculous 
notion  prevailed.  These  were  so  many  mines 
of  wealth  to  the  agriculture  of  the  U.  States. 
The  idle,  clerical,  military,  banking,  loaning 
and  ennobled  classes,  as  has  been  stated,  do 
certainly  have  the  effect  of  raising  agricultu- 
ral prices  very  considerably  ;  but  the  agricul- 
turists who  pay  and  maintain  these  classes, 
sliil  lose  more  by  them  than  they  gain.  Now 
the  United  States,  as  a  section  of  the  commer- 
cial world,  might  have  shared  in  the  enhance- 
ment of  agricultural  price,  produced  by  such 
unproductive  orders  in  other  countries:  and 


OF   AGRICULTURE.  27 

paid  none  of  the  ruinous  expence  of  wealth  or 
libeity,  which  they  cost.  They  might  have 
reaped  the  good,  and  avoided  the  evil.  And 
agriculture  for  once  in  its  life,  might  have 
done  itself  justice.  But  the  wiseacre  chose  to 
reap  the  evil,  and  avoid  the  good  ;  and  if  it's 
situation  has  been  occasionally  tolerable,  it 
was  sorely  against  it's  will,  or  by  accident. — 
In  the  first  eight  years  after  the  revolution, 
being  the  first  period  in  the  latter  ages  of  the 
world,  that  agriculture  could  make  laws,  it 
legislated  sundry  items  of  the  British  system 
for  buying  markets  or  raising  prices.  In  the 
next  twelve,  it  nurtured  their  growth,  so  as 
to  raise  up  some  to  a  large,  and  one  to  a  mon- 
strous size  ;  and  also  most  sagaciously  prohi- 
bited itself,  first  from  sharing  in  the  benefit  of 
the  high  prices  produced  by  aristocratical  in- 
stitutions in  France,  and  secondly  from  shar- 
ing in  those  produced  in  the  same  way  in  Eng- 
land. European  agriculture  is  gulled  or  op- 
pressed by  others  ;  American,  gulls  or  op- 
presses itself.  The  first  is  no  longer  weak 
enough  to  think,  that  its  battalion  of  aristo- 
cratical items,  does  it  any  good  ;  but  it  is  now 
unable  to  follow  its  judgment ;  the  second,  tho' 
able  to  follow  its  own  judgment,  has  adopted 
the  exploded  errors  heartily  repented  of  by 
the  first,  and  far  outstrips  it  in  the  celerity  of 
its  progress  towards  a  state  of  absolute  sub- 
mission to  other  interests,  by  shutting  out  it- 
self from  markets  enhanced  at  the  expence  of 
other  nations  ;  and  at  the  same  time  by  crea- 
ting the  English  items  of  capitalists,  or  mas- 
ters for  manufacturers,  bankers,  lem'.  rs,  ar- 
mies and  navies.  Our  true  interest  was  to  pay 
nothing  for  markets,  spurious  and  swindling  to 


5S  THE   POLITICAL  STATE 

those  who  buy  them,  and  ret  to  share  in  their 
euhaneement  of  prices.  "We  have  pursued  a 
different  course,  and  I  do  not  recollect  a  sin- 
gle law,  state  or  continental,  passed  in  favour 
of  agriculture  nor  a  single  good  house  built  by 
it  since  the  revolution  :  but  1  know  many  built 
before  v>hieh  have  fallen  into  deeay.  Our 
agriculture  is  complimented  by  presidents,  go- 
vernors, legislators  and  individuals  :  and  the 
Turks  reverence  a  particular  order  of  people 
as  being  also  favoured  by  heaven. 


Ifct 


or  AGBICLLTITRE.  29 

NUMBER  6. 


THE  POLITICAL   STATE  OF  AGRICULTURE, 
CONTINUED. 


The  arguments  to  prove  the  political  errors 
under  which  our  agriculture  is  groaning,  may 
suggest  a  suspicion,  that  I  am  an  enemy  to 
manufactures.  The  fact  is  otherwise.  I  be- 
lieve tliat  protecting  duties,  or  whatever  else 
shall  damn  agricultural  effort,  and  impoverish 
the  lands  of  our  country,  is  the  only  real  and 
fatal  foe  to  manufactures  ;  and  that  a  flourish- 
ing agriculture  w ill  beget  and  enrich  manufac- 
tures, as  rich  pastures  multiply  and  fatten 
animals.  He,  who  killed  the  goose  to  come  at 
her  golden  eggs,  was  such  a  politician,  as  he 
who  burdens  cur  expiring  agriculture,  to  raise 
bounties  for  our  flourishing  manufactures. — 
He  kills  the  cause  of  the  e;,(!  he  looks  fur. 

I  meet  such  an  insinuation  by  another  argu- 
ment.    Protecting  duties  impoverish  and  en- 

s!f,v:  L~:.":;frj^:r?r^he™?cfres,  and  are  so  far 

t  ..  !.ing  intended  to  operate  in  their  favor, 
or  '  l  \'  ,\ .  •■  of  a  nation,  that  their  end  and  effect 
simply,  is  to  favor  monied  capital,  which  will 
scz  5  u}M)n  and  appropriate  to  itself,  the  whole 
profit  of  the  bounty  extorted  from  the  people 
h;  protecting  duties  ;  and  allow  as  scanty  wa- 
ges to  its  workmen,  as  it  ean.  Monied  capt- 
tal  drives  industry  without  money  out  of  the 
market,  and  forces  it  into  its  service,  in  every 
ca»e  where  the  object  of  contest  is  an  enor- 
mous income.  The  wages  it  allows  to  indus- 
try are  always  regulated  by  the   expenee   of 


SO  THE  POLITICAL  STATE 

subsistence,  and  not  by  the  extent  of  its  gain. 
Monied  capitalists  constitute  an  essential  item 
of  a  government  modelled  after  the  English 
form.  To  advance  this  item,  for  the  sake  of 
strengthening  the  government  against  the 
people,  and  not  for  the  sake  of  manufacturers, 
is  the  object  of  protecting  duties.  True,  will 
say  many  a  reader,  but  that  is  not  the  design 
here.  Oh !  how  reverential  is  the  logician 
who  can  prove,  that  an  axe  will  cut  under  a 
monarchy,  but  not  under  a  republic. 

Some  king,  I  believe,  requested  themerean- 
tile  class  of  his  subjects,  to  ask  of  him  a  fa- 
vour. The  greatest,  your  majesty  can  grant 
us,  said  they,  is,  to  let  us  alone.  Protecting 
duties  are  such  favours  to  manufacturers,  as 
the  pretended  favors  of  kings  are  to  mer- 
chants. They  impoverish  their  customers, 
the  agriculturists,  and  place  over  themselves 
an  order  of  masters  called  capitalists,  \vhich 
intercepts  the  profit,  destined,  without  legal 
interposition,  for  industry.  Many  other  argu- 
ments might  be  urged  to  prove  that  protect- 
ing duties  beget  the  poverty  of  manufacturers, 
but  this  is  not  my  subject.     To  that  I  return. 

The  bitterest  pill  which  the  English  go- 
vernment compelled  our  agriculture  to  swal- 
low before  the  revolution,  was,  ihe  protecting 
duty  pill,  or  an  equivalent  drug,  gilded  with 
the  national  advantage  of  dealing  with  fellow 
subjects;  and,  after  having  gone  through  a 
long  war  to  get  rid  of  this  nauseous  physick, 
we  have  patiently  swallowed  it,  gilded  also  by 
other  doctors  with  the  national  advantage  Of 
dealing  with  fellow  citizens:  The  power  and 
wealth  of  the  political  doctors,  who  have  re- 
commended these  self  same   political  drugs, 


OF  AGRTCULT¥EiE.  31 

depended  considerably  in  both  cases,  on  their 
being  swallowed. 

I  will  suppose  that  our  protecting  duties  do 
not  exceed  the  average  amount  of  25  per  cen- 
tum, that  they  had  expelled  every  article  of  fo^ 
reign  manufacture,  and  bestowed  on  our  bro- 
ther citizens  a  complete  monopoly  of  our  ma- 
uufuclural  wants,  and  an  ability  to  supply 
ihem.  I  will  suppose  too  in  favor  of  a  pro- 
ject, which  must  depend  on  concessions  to 
obtain  the  respect  of  examination,  that  the  a- 
gricultural  interest  shall  be  able  after  this 
blessed  desideratum  of  the  protecting  duty  sys- 
icui  is  obtained,  to  get  at  its  old  markets  (he 
same  price  for  its  products,  and  annually  bring 
home  the  whole  in  gold  or  silver,  for  the  use 
of  our  own  capitalists  and  monopolizers.  This, 
have  said  many  great  ministers  of  state,  who 
had  no  knowledge  of  agi'icultnre,  would  com- 
plete its  prosperity. 

ft  is  the  prosperity  of giving  one  fourth  a- 
bove  the  market  price  for  all  the  manufac- 
tures it  needs.  It  is  the  boon  of  returning 
with  empty  ships  from  ports,  at  which  the 
same  things  can  be  bought  for  one  fourth  less. 
It  is  the  boon  of  a  direct  tax  or  a  system  of 
excise,  to  supply  the  revenue,  which  the  sue* 
tess  of  the  project  would  annihilate. 


32  THE   POLITICAL  STATE 

NUMBER  7. 


THE  POLITICAL   STATE  OF  AGRICULTURE, 
CONTINUED. 


The  blessings  of  complete  success  in  the  plan 
of  expelling  foreign  manufactures,  by  raising 
bounties  upon  Agriculture,  may  be  exhibited 
by  figures  upon  data,  however  conjectural  in 
amount,  eorrect  in  principle*  Suppose  agri- 
culture annually  to  bring  home  forty  millions 
of  dollars,  she  would  be  annually  robbed  of 
ten  millions,  by  a  protecting  duty  of  25  per 
centum,  for  the  benefit  of  capitalists.  Sup- 
pose her  share  of  the  taxes,  state  and  continen- 
tal, to  be  15  millions,  and  that  out  of  the  re- 
maining fifteen,  she  has  five  millions  to  pay  to 
bankers ;  ten  will  remain,  leaving  her  an  an- 
nual income  per  poll  of  about,  Sl«50  for  build- 
ing houses,  paying  expences  and  improving 
lands.  But  if  we  take  into  the  account,  that 
foreign  nations  neither  would  nor  could  pay  our 
agriculturists  with  specie  for  their  produce, 
that  they  would  countervail  upon  this  prepos- 
terous project,  and  that  every  countervailing 
jact  of  theirs,  would  operate  upon  our  agricul- 
tural products,  even  this  Si. 50  would  become 
the  victim  of  retaliation,  and  leave  the  farmer 
as  fundless  for  purchasing  manufactures,  as 
for  improving  his  land. 

This  blessed  scheme  of  shutting  up  its  mar- 
kets, for  the  encouragement  of  agriculture, 
has  been  wonderfully  overlooked  as  a  means 
for  encouraging  manufactures.  In  the  latter 
ease,  markets  are  eagerly  sought  for,  and  bar- 


OP  AGHICTTXTTBE.  35 

ter  universally  allowed.  England  takes  spe- 
cial care  not  to  limit  the  sales  of  her  manu- 
factures directly  or  indirectly  to  returns  in 
specie,  knowing  that  the  attempt  would  des- 
troy them.  She  endows  them  with  the  home 
monopoly,  and  freedom  to  make  the  hest  bar- 
gains in  all  the  foreign  markets  they  can  get 
to.  Manufacturing  is  her  staple  :  agriculture 
is  ours. 

The  United  States  hit  exactly  upon  the  same 
mode  for  the  encouragement  of  our  agricul- 
ture after  the  revolution  that  the  English  did 
before  it,  for  the  purpose  of  pillaging  it.  E- 
vcry  congress  has  adhered  to  their  predeces. 
sors  in  the  same  policy.  The  agriculturists  t<» 
get  rid  of  it  fought  England,  and  having  evin 
ced  their  power  to  control  a  great  nation,  arc, 
quietly  submitting  to  this  spectre  of  patriot- 
ic in- 

The  English  before  the  revolution,  quarter- 
ed upon  p«r  agriculture,  a  necessity  of  buying 
its  manufactures  at  home,  or  within  the  em- 
pire, whilst  it  enjoyed  the  equivalents  of  bei:  « 
free  from  iheir  taxation,  from  paying  auy  of 
the  interest  of  their  paper  systems,  from  con- 
tributions for  supporting  their  armies,  navies, 
bishops  and  pensioners,  from  the  frauds  of 
their  treasury  system,  and  of  sharing  in  the 
enhanced  prices,  produced  by  fraud  which  did 
uot  reach  the  provinces.  The  same  svstem 
inflicted  by  congress,  is  attended  with  none  of 
these  equivalents.  Agriculture  pavs  and  must 
forever  pay  most  of  whatever  is  collected  by 
taxes,  by  charters,  by  protecting  duties,  by  pa- 
per systems  of  every  kind,  for'armies,  fo*r  na- 
vies, and  though  last,  not  the  h*ast  of  its  los- 
ses, of  whatever  the  nation  is  defrauded  by  a, 
4. 


Ji  THE  rOLITICAl  STATE 

treasury  system  operating  in  darkness.  If 
The  taxes  are  directly  laid  on  property,  agri- 
culture.pays  nearly  the  whole  of  them  ;  if  on 
consumptions,  an  unequal  share,  because  of 
the  greater  number  of  bauds  she  employs  than 
any  other  business,  and  the  smaller  profit  de- 
rived from  their  labor.  Had  our  policy,  in- 
stead of  assailing  agriculture,  with  the  En- 
glish system  of  quartering  upon  her  a  legion 
of  legal  separate  interests  [io  resist  which  she 
had  spent  her  blood  and  treasure  in  a  long  war 
with  that  nation;  been  guided  by  these  consi- 
derations, she  would  nothave  been  subjected  to 
the  very  evil?,  to  avoid  which,  she  hud  so  re- 
cently and  gloriously  persevered  through  that 
war. 

The  effecis  of  yoking  agriculture  to  armies, 
na\  ies,  paper  frauds,  treasury  frauds,  and  pro- 
tecting duty  frauds  since  a  revolution,  which 
it  labored  for,  like  the  ox  who  tills  the  crop 
10  be  eaten  by  others,  are  visibly  an  increase 
of  emigration,  a  decrease  in  the  fertility  of 
land,  sales  of  landed  estates,  a  decay  and  im- 
poverishment Loth  in  mind  and  fortune  of  the 
landed  gentry  .  and  an  exchange  of  that  honest, 
virtuous*  patriotic  and  bold  class  of  men,  for 
an  order  of  stock-jobbers  in  loans,  banks,  ma- 
nufactories, contracts,  rivers,  roads,  houses, 
ships,  lotteries,  and  an  infinite  number  of  infe- 
rior tricks  to  get  money,  calculated  to  instill 
op;  osite  principles. 

All  the  varieties  of  this  order  receive  boun- 
ties, and  agriculture  pays  them.  They  gain 
from  six  to  twpn#7"prr  centum  profit  on  their 
capitals  :  agriculture  seldom  or  never  gains 
sis,  except  in  a  few  southern  instances.  In 
fiic t,  it  very  rarely  ^aius  any  thing,  if  aa   hi- 


©TAGRICriTUHE.  So 

rcmc,  derived  from  an  impoverishment  of  the 
land,  ill  deserves  the  name  of  profit. 

The  injustice  of  superadding  upon  agricul- 
ture these  unnecessary  hardens  to  those  which 
are  necessary,  is  illustrated  hy  supposing  the 
duties  upon  foreign  manufactures  to  he  only 
five  per  centum,  and  nearly  or  quite  all  our 
duties  are  ahove  the  supposition.  To  such 
duties  are  still  to  he  added  (he  profits  of  the 
Knglish  and  American  merchants,  through 
■whose  hands  the  goods  pass,  and  the  freight. 
These  duties,  profits  and  freight  would  alone 
constitute  an  encouragement  to  home  manu- 
factures of  at  least  twenty  per  centum  •  a^suni 
quite  adequate  to  any  encouragement  which 
lionest  pciir-y  would  defnid,  or  common r  jus- 
tice sufier.  And  as  all  the  occasional  calami- 
ties of  commerce,  are  losses  to  agriculture, 
and  prizes  to  manufactures,  her  fatuity  in 
kneeling  like  the  camel  to  receive  burdens, 
under  the  notion  that  she  is  receiving  boun- 
ties, can  have  no  antithesis  more  perfect,  than 
the  species  of  dexterity  which  inflicts  them*. 


56?  THE  POLITICAL  STATE 


NUMBER  s. 


T.HE   POLITICAL    STATE  OF   AGEIC'JLIIRJ 

v.  ;NTINV£D. 


Protecting  du!ies  to  enrich  manufacturer*, 
are  Iil».c  backs  10  enrich  farmers,  bishops  to 
save  souls,  or  feudal  lords  to  defend  nations. 
Ungland  has  demonstrated  the  character  of 
each  member  of  this  kindred  c]uariuui\irau\ 
Protected  by  feudal  lords.it  was  conquered 
almost  by  everv  invader  ;  taught  by  bishops, 
•..jii,,,.,!.!..  iiuvM.u-  ;„ .jn   distilled    ^,„„^n   «•; 

inferior  ranks,  deposits  lis  essence  in  this  re- 
verend  order  of  senrifity-  and  selfishness  ;  en- 
riched bv  bankers,  farmers  See  from  the  culti- 
vation of  lands,  which  yield  the  highest  nomi- 
nal returns  to  agricultural  labor  of  any  in  the 
world,  until  a  surplus  of  bread  is  exchanged 
for  a  deficiency  ;  and  fed  \>ith  the  endiess 
bounties  of  protecting  duties,  one  sixth  of  the 
labouring  manufacturers,  constantly  occupy 
prisons  or  poor  houses,  whilst  the  rest  may  be 
said  to  die  daily  upon  their  daily  wages. 

Monarchies  and  aristocracies,  being  found- 
ed in  the  principle  of  distributing  wealth  by 
law,  can  '»uly  subsist  by  frauds  and  deceptions 
to  dupe  ignorance  into  an  opinion,  that  such  dis- 
tributions are  intended  for  is  benefit:  but  iu 
genuine  republics  founded  on  the  principle  of 
leaving  wealth  to  be  distributed  by  merit  and 
industry,  these  treacheries  of  government  are 
treasons  against  nations. 

They  suhstilale  the  principle  which  eeastt- 


OF  AGRICULTCRE. 


tufcs  an  aristocracy,  for  the  principle  which 
constitutes  a  true  republic  ;  strike  with  a  fa- 
tal ignorance,  or  a  sordid  malignity,  at  the 
heart  of  the  political  system  ;  and  effect  a 
fraudulent  and  treasonable  revolution. 

My  fellow  labourers,  mechanical  or  agricul- 
tural, let  us  never  be  deluded  iuto  an  opinion, 
that  a  distribution  of  wealth  by  the  govern- 
ment or  by  law,  will  advaice  our  interest.— 
We  are  the  least  successful  courtiers  of  any 
rank  in  society,  and  of  course  have  the  worst 
prospect  of  sharing  in  any  species  of  wealth, 
bestowed  by  governments.  It  is  both  contra- 
ry to  the  experience  of  all  mankind,  and  even 
impossible.  We  constitute  the  majority  of 
nations.  A  minority  administers  governments 
and  legislates.  Compare  the  probability  of 
its  taking  wealth  from  itself  to  gi\e  it  to  the 
majority,  with  that  of  its  defrauding  the  ma- 
jority to  enrich  itself  and  its  partizans  ;  and 
you  will  aceount  for  the  regular  current  of 
experience.  Consider,  however  splendidly  a 
minority  may  live  upon  the  labours  of  a  ma- 
jority, ihat  a  majority  cannot  subsist  upon 
those  of  a  minority,  and  you  will  see  that  it  is 
impossible  for  experience  in  future  to  teach  a 
different  lesson. 

Let  us  not  Hatter  ourselves,  that  laws  can  be 
made  to  enable  majorities  to  plunderthe.se  mi- 
norities, or  to  plunder  themselves  ;  or  to  fat- 
ten a  man  by  feeding  him  with  sliees  cut  from 
his  own  body.  If  a  scheme  could  be  contriv- 
ed in  favor  of  agriculture,  similar  to  the  pro- 
tectingduty  scheme  in  favor  of  manufacturers, 
it  would  enslave  thefarmersasit  does  manufac- 
turers. The  utmost  favor  which  it  is  possible 
for  a  government  to  do  for  us  farmers  and  me- 
o. 


33  THE  POLITICAL  STATE 

chanics,  is  neither  to  help  nor  hurt  us.  The 
first  it  cannot  do,  for  whom  can  laws  strip  or 
famish  to  clothe  or  feed  the  vast  majority  we 
compose  Aware  that  fraud  or  oppression 
cannot  permanently  subsist,  except  by  feeding 
on  majorities,  those  who  compose  these  majo- 
rities, if  they  are  wise,  ne>er  fail  to  see  that 
their  interest  points  to  a  republican  form  of 
government,  for  the  very  purpose  of  prevent- 
ing the  passage  of  laws  for  quartering  or  pas- 
turing on  them  minor  interests.  These  ma- 
jorities are  the  pasture  upon  which  all  minor 
factitious  interests,  however  denominated,  fat- 
ten :  and  it  would  be  as  unnatural  for  majori- 
ties to  fatten  upon  such  legal  minor  interests, 
as  for  pastures  to  eat  the  herds  grazing  on 
them. 

The  interest  of  labour  covers  every  national 
majority,  and  every  legal  bounty  is  paid  by  la- 
bour. This  interest  cannot  receive  legal 
bounties,  because  there  cannot  exist  a  treasu- 
ry for  their  payment.  The  utmost  boon  with 
which  government  can  eudow  it,  is  the  enjoy- 
ment of  that  portion  of  its  own  earning,  which 
the  public  good  can  spare.  "Whenever  boun- 
ties are  pretended  to  be  bestowed  on  labour, 
by  privileges  to  feudal  barons  to  defend  it,  to 
bishops  to  save  it,  or  to  capitalists  or  bankers 
to  enrich  it.  an  arisiocratical  order  is  unavoid- 
ably erected  to  pilfer  and  enslave  it  :  because 
though  majorities  cannot  be  enriched  or  enno- 
bled by  bounties  or  privileges,  minorities  can  ; 
and  these  bounties  or  privileges  must  of  course 
settle,  not  against,  but  conformably  with  the 
laws  of  nature,  both  moral  and  physical. 

The  farce  of  legal  favor  or  encouragement, 
has  been  so  dexterously  acted  in  England,  to 
delude  both  the  agricultural  aud  mechanical 


OF  AGRICULTURE.  39 

interest,  the  interest  of  labour,  or  the  majority 
of  the  nation,  as  to  have  delivered  this  majo- 
rity, shackled  by  protecting  duties,  bounties 
and  prohibitions,  into  the  hands  of  an  inconsi- 
derable monied  aristocracy,  or  combination  of 
capitalists.  Iuto  this  net,  woven  of  intricate 
frauds  and  ideal  credit,  the  majority  of  the 
nation,  the  interest  of  labour,  the  agricultu- 
rists and  mechanics  have  run,  after  the  baits 
held  out  by  protecting  duties,  bounties  and 
prohibitions.  From  its  dreams  of  wealth  it  is 
awakened  under  the  fetters  of  a  monied  aris- 
tocracy, and  unfortunate  as  Prometheus,  it  is 
destined  to  eternal  and  bitter  toil  to  feed  this 
political  harpy,  and  to  suffer  excruciating 
anguish  from  its  insatiable  voraciousness — 
Sometimes  this  net  has  been  baited  to  catch 
mechanics,  at  others  to  catch  agriculturists, 
and  perhaps  it  is  but  just,  that  these  real  bre- 
thren interests  shouid  fatten  the  alien  tribe  of 
stockjobbers,  as  a  punishment  for  manifesting 
a  disposition  to  devour  each  other. 

We  farmers  and  mechanics  have  been  poli- 
tical slaves  in  all  countries,  because  we  are 
political  fools.  We  know  how  to  convert  a 
wilderness  into  a  paradise,  and  a  forest  into 
palaces  and  elegant  furniture  ;  but  we  have 
been  taught  by  those  whose  object  is  to  mono- 
polize the  sweets  of  life,  which  we  sweat  for, 
that  politics  are  without  our  province,  and  in 
us  a  ridiculous  affectation  ;  for  the  purpose  of 
converting  our  ignorance  into  the  screen  of  re- 
gular advances,  which  artificial  interests  or 
legal  factions,  are  forever  making  in  straight 
or  zigzag  lines,  against  the  citadel  of  our 
rights  and  liberties.  Sometimes  after  one  of 
these  marauding  families  have  pillaged  for  a 
thousand  years,  we  detect  the  cheat,  rise  in 


40  THE  POLITICAL  STATE 

the  majesty  of  our  strength,  drive  away  the 
thief,  and  sink  again  into  a  lethargy  of  intel- 
lect so  gross,  as  to  receive  him  nest  day  in  a 
new  coat  as  an  accomplished  and  patriotic 
stranger,  come  to  cover  us  with  benefits. — 
Thus  we  got  rid  of  tythes,  and  now  we  clasp 
banks,  patronage  and  protecting  duties,  to 
our  bosoms.  Ten  per  centum  upon  labour  was 
paid  to  a  priesthood,  forming  a  body  of  men 
which  extended  knowledge,  and  cultivated 
good  morals,  as  some  compensation  for  form- 
ing also  a  legal  faction,  guided  by  the  spirit  of 
encroachment  upon  the  rights  and  property  of 
the  majority.  Forty  per  centum  is  now  paid 
on  our  labour,  to  a  legal  faction  guided  by  the 
same  spirit,  and  pretending  to  no  religion,  to 
no  morality,  to  no  patriotism,  except  to  the  re- 
ligion, morality  and  patriotism  of  making  it- 
self daily  richer,  which  it  says  will  enrich  the 
nation,  just  as  the  self  same  faction  has  en- 
riched England.  This  legal  faction  of  capi- 
talists, created  by  protecting  duties,  bankers 
and  contractors,  far  from  beiug  satisfied  with 
the  tythe  claimed  by  the  old  hierarchy,  will, 
in  the  case  of  the  mechanics,  soon  appropriate 
the  whole  of  their  labour  to  its  use,  beyond  a 
bare  subsistence  ;  though  in  the  case  of  far- 
mers, it  has  yet  only  gotten  about  four  times 
as  much  of  theirs,  as  was  extorted  by  the  odi- 
ous, oppressive,  and  fraudulent  tythe  system. 
"We  know  death  very  well,  when  killing  with 
one  scythe,  but  mistake  him  for  a  deity,  be- 
cause he  is  killing  with  four. 


01?  AOXICULTUEE.  4£ 

NUMBER  9. 


THE  POLITICAL   STATE  OF    AGRICULTURE, 
CONTINUED. 


Prosperity  neither  in  manufactures,  nor  in 
paper  speculations,  is  ever  expected  without  a 
capital,  ami  yet  capital  is  filched  from  agricul- 
ture, under  the  preteuee  that  it  will  produce 
her  prosperity.  The  capital  thus  filched  is 
made  hy  laws  to  yield  a  better  profit,  without 
labor,  than  it  could  with  it.  s*wd  becomes  a 
premium  offered  by  government  to  those  who 
desert  the  labors  of  agriculture.  Hence  w© 
see  capital  Irving  from  the  fields,  to  the  legal 
monopolies,  banking  and  manufacturing.  The 
laws  have  established  a  thousand  modes  by 
which  capital  will  produce  quicker  and  larger 
profits,  than  when  employed  in  the  slow  im- 
provements of  agriculture.  These  bribes  of- 
fered to  its  deserters  have  already  produced 
the  most  ruinous  consequences.  Avarice  eve- 
ry where  seizes  them  with  avidity,  and  rails  at 
agriculture,  as  sordid  and  unpatriotic,  for 
wishing  to  withhold  them ;  as  the  vulture 
might  have  railed  at  Prometheus,  for  wishing 
to  keep  his  liver.  The  best  informed  agricul- 
turists are  driven  for  self  defence,  or  seduced 
by  the  temptations  of  the  wealth,  with  which 
they  are  solicited,  to  sell  their  lands,  which  re- 
quire labor,  for  the  purchase  of  a  better  profit 
requiring  none  ;  or  at  least  to  divert  to  this 
object,  whatever  capital  accident  or  industry 
may  have  thrown  into  their  hand:*.     Audi  tfce 


l&  THE  POLITICAL  STATE 

capital  thus  drained  from  the  uses  of  agrieuf- 
ture,  by  this  irresistible  and  perpetual  legal 
system,  has  reduced  it  to  a  skeleton  for  want 
of  nourishment. 

Strickland,  the  English  farmer,  who  came 
to  this  country  with  the  intention  of  escaping 
from  the  agricultural  oppressions  of  his  own, 
and  returned  disgusted,  discovered  and  des- 
cribed this  death-infiicting  operation  in  the 
52d  acd  53d  pages  of  his  pamphlet.  »*  Be- 
fore the  revolution.  "  says  he,  ■•the  capital 
"of  the  country  was  vested  in  the  lands,  and 
**  the  landed  proprietor's  held  the  first  rank  in 
•*  the  country  for  opulence  and  information, 
"  and  in  gei:r!>'.  scceived  the  best  education 
"  which  America,  and  not  unfrequemiy,  ZTu- 
"  rope,  could  afford  them.  *'  Now,  «  the  ca- 
u  pital,  as  well  as  the  government  of  the  coun- 
*'  try  has  slipt  out  of  the  hands  of  land  ow- 
'•  ners  ;  and  these  new  people  are  employed 
*•  in  very  different,  and.  in  the  present  state  of 
''things,  more  productive  speculations  than 
'•the  cultivation  of  lands ,-  in  speculations 
'•  frequently  at  variance  with  the  best  inter- 
••  ests  of  the  country.  In  some  of  the  states, 
"  the  gentlemen  of  landed  property  have  pas- 
sed into  perfect  oblivion:  in  uone  do  they 
"  bear  the  sway,  or  even  possess  their  due 
'•'  share  of  influence.*'  On  the  eleventh  day  of 
January,  1797,  a  committee  was  raised  in 
congress  for  the  promotion  of  agriculture  who 
reported  "That  the  encouragement  of  agrieul- 
"  lure  is  an  object  highly  worthy  the  public 
"attention,  as  it  constitutes  the  most  useful 
**  employment  for  our  citizens,  is  the  basis  of 
'•  manufactures  and  commerce,  and  the  richest 
H  fro  are  e  ©f  national  wealtk  and  prosperity — 


QF  AGRICUXT¥RE.  4v 

"  and  that  ihe  seience  of  agriculture  was  ia 
"  its  infancy."  One  would  have  thought  that 
these  sentiments  would  have  suggested  the 
folly  of  starving  this  useful  infant,  to  fat  tea 
the  pernicious  legal  infant  called  capital ;  of 
compressing  one  into  a  dwarf  &  stretching  the 
other  intoa  giant.  No  such  thing.  It  was  dan- 
dled a  little.  A  toy  fop  its  amusement  called 
«•  the  American  Society  of  Agriculture,"  was 
talked  of.  This  toy  was  found  to  be  uncon- 
stitutional because  it  would  add  hut  little  to 
the  power  of  the  general  government,  and  the 
infant  was  turned  to  graze  in  impoverished 
fields.  The  constitution  was  construed  to  ex- 
clude congress  from  the  power  of  fostering  a- 
grieulture  by  patents  or  bounties,  and  to  give 
it  the  power  of  fostering  banks  and  raauufac- 
tures  by  patents  and  bounties;  and  a  republi- 
can and  agricultural  people  plunged  into  this 
absurdity,  to  advance  the  project  of  a  states- 
man in  favor  of  monarchy.  Agriculture,  ia 
its  foundering,  like  an  ox  whilst  breaking, 
gave  the  statesman  a  tumble,  and  then  tame- 
ly submitted  to  the  yoke  he  had  fashioned, 


>i  THE  POIITICAX  STATE 


NUMBER  10, 


•THX  POLITICAL    STATE    Of   AGE  ICULTVRE, 
CONTINUED. 


As  agricultural   improvements    cannot  be 
made  without  capital  ;  as  capital  will    not  be 
employed  in  them,  if  it  can  find   more  profita- 
ble employment ;  as  the  laws  have    created  a 
v.-.rictv  of  employments  for  capital,  attracting 
it  by  bounties  and  premiums  drawn  from  agri- 
culture ;  and  as  this  .subtraction  from  one  and 
addition  to  the  others,  have  caused  capital  in- 
vested under  such  legal  patronage  to  be  more 
profitable  than  when  employed  in  agricultural 
improvements  ;  it  follows,  that  such  improve- 
ments cannot  take  place,   whilst -a   policy    so 
completely  fitted  to  counteract  them,  remains. 
Bring  before  vour  mind  some  twenty  or  thirty 
modes  of  employing  capital,  and  imagine  that 
one  of  them  produces  the  least  profit  and  most 
toil ;  and  further,  that  (his  one  is  oppressed  in 
various  ways  to  advance  the  prosperity  of  all 
the  rest.     Could  one  of  the  emblems  of  agri- 
culture himself  (mentioned  in  the  last  number) 
conceive,  that  capital  would  fiy   from   all   the 
profitable  modes,  to  acquire  comparative  penu- 
ry and  exclusive  toil  in  the  service  of  the  un- 
profitable mode  :  or  be  persuaded,  that  an  ut- 
ter destitution  of  capital  can  advance  the  pros- 
perity of  this  one  mode,  whilst  he   is  told   on 
all  hands,  that  capital  alone  can  advance  that 
of  every  other?     This    is   not  an   imaginary, 
kiit  .a  real  ease. 


OF  AGRICULTURE.  45 

The  project  of  creating  a  race  of  capitalists, 
as  an  engine  to  endow  the  government  with 
more  power,  seems  to  me  to  be  unfavorable  to 
all  the  callings  and  interests  of  society,  save 
to  the  calling  of  governing,  and  the  calling  of 
capitalists.  Whilst  agriculture  is  more  par- 
ticularly impoverished  by  it,  that  impoverish- 
ment contains  a  resulting  blow  for  everv  thine; 
■which  a  fertile  country  and  a  flourishing  agri- 
-  culture  nurtures  ;  and  the  bounty  of  protect- 
ing duties  will  inflict  upon  the  manufacturer* 
themselves,  or  real  workmen,  in  lieu  of  com- 
fort and  competence,  which  a  mul  ( itude  of  them 
would  gain  by  free  industry,  an  impossibility 
of  obtaining  either,  with  the  consolatory  pros- 
pect of  tie  vasJ:  wealth  of  their  masters,  the 
capitalists. 

Under  the  same  system.  England,  the  most 
fertile  country  in  the  world,  wants  bread.  Ar- 
thur Young  states,  that  a  portion  of  that  coun- 
ts ,  sufficing,  if  cultivated  to  make  England 
a  great  exporter  of  bread  stuffy  lies  uncultiva- 
ted. The  average  crop  of  wheat  in  England  is 
about  35  bushels  an  acre,  and  the  average 
price  about  los.  a  bushel  sterling.  Yet  capi- 
tal finds  better  employment  under  this  system 
there,  than  in  agriculture.  This  exorbitant 
price  is  therefore  an  insufficient  equivalent 
for  the  oppression  it  suffer-;  from  the  system. 
The  average  crop  of  wheat  in  some  states  is  as 
low  as  five,  in  none  above  ten  bushels  to  the  a- 
cre.  and  the  average  price  about  live  shillings 
sterling.  AVill  one  seventh  or  one  fourth  of 
the  crops,  and  one  third  of  the  price  here,  e- 
nable  agriculture  to  bear  a  system,  under 
■which,  with  a  product  and  price  ten  or  t ^  ;jn- 
tj  fold  better,  it  is  not  enabled  to  supply  a 
b. 


1-  .THI.  FGTITICaL  sTfTE 

ration  with  bread  ?  An  acre  of  wheat  in  En- 
gland pi  m  -  ••  the  farmer*  261.  5*  stei  lin^  : 
here  in  some  states  li  10<  in  other*  SL  stea- 
ling. Aadbere  the  profits  m 3  -jobbing, 
nr  c:  -  -.  are  as  great  a?  in  England. — 
If  agrici  1  rices, 
is  so  bad  a  business  tbere,  1  mnpared  with  ere- 
s  to  be  unable  10  raise  bread  for 
t be  :  a  I  fa  e  do  our  product* and  pri- 
efs  ri enounce  uj  on  it  here  ; 

A.  material  between  the  landed 

-•  of  the  United  Siat»  s  and  ci  England, 

geof  the  former.     Inere  it 

1-  distio  t    from   agrien'i&rtS  and   associated 

a    ■  pita  lists.     Here  it  i» 

fated  without  e- 

feed  that  aristoerae£.     There  it 

isaL  .here  it   is  a   tenant.     There  it? 

ii  niih   capital  to  embark   in  ihe 

;  •  ;•   gj  ocges  for  g  the    earn- 

i    .  -  ■  I '  !.  :    ;  :  bere  it   i?  labor  itself  v,  la.se 

-  ■      se  nionej  sponges       &©i  a.     TL 

fed  with  the   most  delicious    inorsels    of 

.  53  «'<  m  for  pil- 

labor  :   here,   but   a 

ofthese  mora  '.-  fall  to  its  share,  and  the-e 

en   previously   tarred   from    iis   own 

■  est  of  idh  pess  legis- 

-        -       fai  1.  r  of  idleness 

(lie  interest  ofls  .■-.',-.  tr?,.  anil  it  *]- 

ui  favor  of  idleness. 


OF  agriculture.  47 


NUMBER  ii. 


THE    POLITICAL    STATE  OF   AGRICULTURE, 
CONTINU  b.D. 


The  political  evits  which  hear  upon  agri- 
culture, are  a  providence  which  will  unaltera- 
bly determi^'  hs  fi«e,  unless  they  are  remov- 
ed, ami  therefore  Nie^otily  remedy,  which  eaii 
avert  this  fate"  is  to  remove  them.  I  shall 
quote  Strickland  hut  once  more,  because  hi* 
veracity  is  insufferable.  I  have  selected  hi- 
therto his  softest  passages,  for  he  asserts,  that 
oar  »»»!  ;s  nearly  a  caput  mortuum  :  that  <>ur 
landed  property  is  no  longer  an  object  of  profit 
or  |  hasure: — that  few  £cdd  houses  are  buiid- 
ing  m  I  he  country,  or  improvements  of  any 
kind  taking  place  :  and  that  the  opulent  arc 
quitting  it  for  the  towns.  But  when  he  says 
page  hSt  "the  mass  of  those  we  should  call 
»'  planters  or  farmers,  are  ignorant,  uneduca- 
ted, poor  and  indolent"  his  veracity  becomes 
insolent.  Has  Mr.  Strickland  forg  Men,  that 
We  agriculturists  had  the  sagacity  to  discover 
tha't  the  t&nglish  system  of  creating  an  order  of 
capitalists,  was  levelled  directly  at  our  prospe- 
rity, arid  flic  magnanimous  perseverance  to 
get  rid  Oi  its  authors?  Let  him  remember 
this  achievement,  and  forget  what  has  become, 
of  the  system  itself:  and  then  he  will  certain- 
ly retract  his  severe  censure  upon  our  under- 
standings and  perseverance. 

I  would  further  ask   Mr.   Strickland,   whe- 
ther it  is  a  very  aneomutou  tliiug  even  in  Ifte 


49  THE  POLITIC  AX  STA  \ 

enlightened  England,  for  the  people  to  mistake 
the  shadow  for  the  substance,  or  to  follow 
their  passions  in  pursuit  of  the  oppressor,  ra- 
ther ihan  their  reason  in  pursuit  of  the  op- 
pression. In  short,  are  not  the  pages  of  his- 
tory replete  "with  instances  of  destroying  the 
tyrant  and  retailing  the  tyranny  ;  And  why 
should  we  agriculturists  be  called  ignorant  anil 
indolent,  when  we  are  only  gulled,  just  as  man- 
kind in  general,  the  enlightened  citizens  of 
Europe,  and  his  own  fellow  subjects  are  gul- 
led r  "Why  should  the  good  sense  and  constan- 
cy of  regarding  the  principle  rather  than  the 
agent,  be  exclusively  expected  of  us  ? 

It  is  however  certainly  true,  that  nothing 
can  Sourish  under  oppression.  Neither  agri- 
vulture  nor  civil  liberty  can  exist  i;:  •Ir-;ie,;.a» 
lions,  or  be  toasted  into  prosperity.  Our 
struggles,  to  resuscitate  dying  agriculture, 
must,  like  those  of  Sisyphus,  >ield  to  a  stron- 
ger depressing  power.  The  plough  can  have 
very  little  success,  until  the  laws  are  altered 
which  obstruct  it.  Societies  for  improving 
the  breed  of  sheep  or  the  form  of  ploughs,  will 
be  as  likely  to  produce  a  good  system  of  agri- 
culture, under  depressing  laws,  as  societies 
for  improving  the  English  form  of  govern- 
ment under  their  depressing  system  of  corrup- 
tion. A  good  pee  may  produce  a  \ery  bad 
treatise. 

Agricultural  societies  to  take  chance  for 
success,  must  begin  with  efforts  to  elect  into 
the  general  and  state  legislatures,  a  genuine  a- 
gricultural  interest,  uncorrupted  by  stockjob- 
bing, by  a  view  of  office,  or  by  odious  person- 
al vices  ;  taking  care  to  combine  talents  with 
this  genuine    character.     Wise  agricultural 


OF  AGRICULTVRJi.  *9 

elections,  constitute  the  only  chance  for  abro- 
gating a  policy,  which  is  the  ruin  of  agricultu- 
ral prosperity. 

The  bounties,  frauds  and  useless  expences, 
which  strengthen  the  government  and  corrupt 
the  nation,  and  are  drawing  a  vast  annual  capi- 
tal from  agriculture,  would  then  he  applied 
to  the  invigoration  of  the  militia.  Such  a 
measure  would  return  to  manufactures  and  a- 
grieulture  their  own  capital,  and  improve  both, 
the  national  soil  and  the  national  spirit.  The 
nation  would  exchange  ineffectual  armaments 
for  an  irresistible  ardor;  an  impoverishing. 
for  an  improving  soil ;  disrespect  for  itself  and 
its  native  haunts,  for  national  pride  and  love 
of  country  ',  aud  a  school  of  stock-jobbers  and 
contractors  for  a  school  ot  patriots.  But  agri- 
culture and  the  militia  receive  abundance  of 
praise  and  an  abundance  of  oppression  and  ne- 
glect, nor  can  a  mode  of  encouraging  either 
by  law,  be  discovered,  whilst  no  difficulty  is 
felt  in  rearing  up  mercenary  armies,  and 
more  mercenary  capitalists  for  the  same  rea- 
son. It  is  impossible  by  law  to  encourage  a- 
griculture  and  the  militia,  and  also  capitalists 
and  standing  armies. 

The  remedy  of  construing  the  constitution] 
honestly  is  a  simple  one.  It  certainly  intend- 
ed to  bestow  as  little  power  to  tax  agricul- 
ture, in  order  to  raise  a  bounty  for  manufac- 
tures and  credit  corporations,  as  it  does  to  tax 
manufactures,  in  order  to  raise  a  bounty  for  a- 
griculture.  Let  the  imposts  be  regulated  by 
their  constitutional  intention,  and  agriculture 
will  cease  to  be  oppressed  by  bounties  bestow- 
ed by  statesmen  out  of  her  purse  to  advance 
their  own  designs.  The  words  and  spirit  of 
o. 


."»  XKE  POllTICAX  STAXC 

tI.c  constitution  are  so  entirely  adverse  to  the 
idea  of  enabling  congress  to  exercise  a  partia- 
equivalent  to  tLe  min  or  opulence  of 
slates,  relyieg  distinctly  upon  agricultural  or 
mapufaeljtim)  stajifc  s  of  tommeice,  that  the 
unconstitutionality  of  the  power,  01  ghl  to  ren- 
;he  policv  of  its  exercise  an  unnecessary 
enquiry.  It  is  further  unnecessary^  because 
however  favorable  ii  may  be  to  capitalists,  it 
is  subjugation  even  to  manufacturers,  and 
must  imp«ivcii;h  a  vast  majority  of  the  people 
in  every  state  of  the  union  to  enrich  a  few.  nei- 
ther the  uceessify  or  advantage  of  which  is 
suggested  by  the  constitution. 

Jt  is  easy  to  withhold  futuie  charters  for 
establishing  corporations  to  fleece  agriculture 
and  manufactures  :  it  will  be  harder  to  repeal 
those  already  granted.  Yet  there  is  no  point 
upon  which  the  liberty  of  the  nation  more 
certainly  dcj»ends,  than  the  subversion  of  the 
doctrine  oi  a  judicial  power,  to  turn  laws  into 
contracts,  and  render  them  irrepealable,  n ar- 
tier a  line  of  the  constitution,  which  u*es  the 
identical  words  "law  and  contract"  in  differ- 
ent se&ses.  To  try  this  doctrine,  by  which 
r barters,  once  the  vehicles  of  liberty,  are  inge- 
niously converted  into  vehicles  of  slavery,  I 
wi;h  that  congress  v.  ould  grant  to  a  corporation 
of  capitalists,  the  exclusive  privilege  of  furnish- 
ing the  country  with  manufactures  for  one 
thousand  years,  with  a  stipulation  for  protect- 
ing duties,  equal  to  an  exclusion,  for  the  same 
term*  It  would  bring  this  momentous  questi- 
on to  a  fair  decision  whilst  we  have  power  ta 
consider  it. 

The  last*  though  not  the  least  political  op- 
pression upoa  agileulture,  which  I  have  select- 


or  AGRicrxTrnr:..  41 

ed,  for  this  short  consideration  of  its  political 
state,  is  onr  treasury  system,  copied  from  the 
English,  and  of  course  liable  to  the  same  a- 
buses.  It  is  so  utterly  destitute  of  any  securi- 
ty for  the  honest  application  of  public  money, 
that  no  congress,  committee  of  congress,  cr 
member  of  congress  has  ever  examined  the  ac- 
counts of  a  single  year,  or  been  able  to  form  a 
conjecture  on  the  subject.  The  detail  of  cheeks 
is  a  detail  of  dependence  and  subserviency, 
and  a  tissue  of  ineffectual  formality.  The 
money  passes  in  gross  sums  into  the  hands  of  a 
host  of  sub-treasurers.  The  system  fell  at 
once  into  the  grossest  of  those  corruptions 
which  contaminate  the  British  policy,  that  of 
losing  sight  of  money  after  its  appropriation, 
and  considering  it  as  constitutionally  gone, 
however  small  a  proportion  of  i's  object  was 
obtained,  so  that  an  army  upon  paper,  costs 
the  same  sum  as  an  army  in  the  field.  This 
subject  is  however  too  long  and  intricate  to 
follow  away  from  that  lam  pursuing.  This  a- 
buse  in  both  countries  endeavors  to  shrink  from 
public  view,  behind  screens  called  sinking 
funds,  for  applying  a  surplus  of  revenue  to 
the  payment  of  debt.  These  screens  cever 
pecuniary  abuses  against  those  annual  critical 
examinations  of  the  items  of  public  expendi- 
ture, so  wholesomely  practised  by  state  legis- 
latures. Such  annual  examinations  fcy  eon* 
^ress  would  probably  leave  with  agriculture  a 
cons  derable  amount  of  capital  annually  taken 
from  her,  to  enrich  knave-* :  for  no  other  des- 
cription of  men  can  get  a  shilling  from  the  o- 
mission  of  an  annual  examination  of  the  pub- 
lic accounts.    From  the  loan  of  money  in  Ho! 


50  THE  POLITICAL  STATE 

land  to  pat  the  United  States'  Bank  in  mo- 
tion, to  this  day,  every  minority  has  testified 
to  great  pecuniary  abuses;  and  none  when 
converted  into  a  majority,  has  ever  provided 
a  remedy  against  them. 

The  only  remedy  in  this  case,  as  in  others, 
is  to  elect  into  congress  a  genuine  agricultu- 
ral interest*  uneorrupied  I*y  a  mixture  with 
stock-jobbing,  by  a  view  of  office,  or  by  odiou» 
personal  vices,  and  combined  with  good  ta«- 
Ieats> 


of  AGrticuLTrr.E.  »S 


NUMBER  12. 


THE   POLITICAL   STATE  OF   AGRICULTURE, 

CONTINUED. 


The  political  causes  which  oppress  agricul- 
ture have  been  considered,  hefore  the  domestic 
habits  which  vitiate  it,  to  guard  against  the  er- 
ror of  an  opinion,  that  the  latter  may  be  re- 
moved, whilst  the  former  continue.  So  long 
as  the  laws  make  it  more  profitable  to  invest 
capital  in  speculations  without  labor,  than  ia 
agriculture  with  labor  ;  and  so  long  as  the  li- 
berty of  pursuing  one's  own  interest  exist ; 
the  iw»  strongest  human  propensities,  a  love 
of  wealth,  and  a  love  of  ease,  will  render  it 
impossible.  The  reason  why  agricui7u:ie  is 
better  managed  in  Europe  than  in  the  United 
States,  is.  the  coercion  of  necessity  upon  the 
laborers  to  improve  it  to  the  utmost.  The 
landed  interest  there  and  here,  as  was  before 
observed,  entirely  differ.  The  tenants  or  agri- 
culturists are  a  species  of  slaves,  goaded  into 
ingenuity,  labor  and  economy,  without  pos- 
seting any  political  importance,  or  the  Jcust 
share  in  the  government.  They  are  lashed 
into  a  good  system  of  agriculture  in  the  s- me 
way  ratal  good  discipline  i*  proAoeed  in  an  ar- 
my :  and  this  good  Bysteni  of  agriculture  is 
also  for  the  benefit  of  their  landlords  and  'c- 
gislatovs,  just  as  the  good  discipline  of  an  ar- 
my, is  for  the  benelit  of  its  generals  and  o'i  cr 
officers.  It  is  more  out  of  the  power  of  En- 
glish tenants   or    agriculturists,    to   become 


Si  THE  POLITICAL  STATE 

landlords,  capitalists  or  manufacturers,  cr  te 
escape  the  coercion  which  forces  then  io 
stretch  the  mind  and  the  fncselei  after  im- 
provement, than  of  soldiers  to  desert.  Ilo^e- 
rer ihey  may  move  from  plare  to  place,  like 
horses  transferred  from  owner  to  owner,  they 
are  doomed  tothesamefate.  Oppie--i 
eauses  agricultural  improvements  i  i  K:  --'and, 
will  prevent  it  in  the  United  States,  because 
it  cannot  seize  and  held  fast  the  agricultuii-t. 
There,  he  can  only  soften  oppression  h\  supe- 
rior skill  or  industry.  Here,  he  can  iiee  from 
it  iuto  a  wilderness,  or  into  a  charter,  and  grata 
greater  profit  Midi  less  la!>or.  \t  e  copy  the 
English  frauds  upon  the  agriculturist <;.  for  . 
ting  that  the  English  po\»er  over  him  dees 
not  exiit  here.  That  instead  of  being  ahle  to 
lash  him  into  excellence  for  the  bene ..:  rf  5* 
thers,  we  can  only  soli.- «*  htm  by  his  own  iv 
tere-J  ^~£  happiness  :  and  that  this  solicita- 
tion is  an  insult  upf,n  his  understanding,  if  it 
honestly  tells  him.  that  government  o  ii!  esta- 
blish the  policy  of  scattering  bounties  at  his  ex- 
penee.  and  of  bestowing  more  profit  and  ease 
upon  paper  capital  or  fraudulent  credit.  I 
he  can  derive  from  solid  land  and  honest  la 
Eeing  free,  if  he  is  wise,  he  will  prefer  a  shuns 
of  profit  and  ease,  to  a  share  of  los?  and  toil. 
The  cunning  declaimers  in  praise  of'those  who 
choose  the  yoke  of  eti's.  for  the  sake  of  getting 
the  yoke  of  blessings  for  themselves,  only  de- 
ceive fools,  so  that  wisdom  as  ^  ell  a?  wea 
is  flying  from  the  agricultural  interest,  and 
raking  up  her  residence  wi<h  the  policy  of  ma- 
king capital  employed  under  charters,  in  cre- 
dit shops  and  in  manufacturing,  more  pcoifa- 
lie  than  capital   employed  in    agriculture.—- 


OF  AGRICULTURE.  ba 

Tliis  union  in  wisdom  and  wealth,  will  in  (line 
reduce  agriculture  to  the  European  regimen, 
and  the  agriculturists  to  the  grade  of  tenants 
to  a  svstem  for  fostering  dealers  in  money  and 
credit,  at  the  expeiue  of  the  makers  of  bread, 
meat  and  cloth.  This  system,  however  slow- 
ly, certainly  creates  a  class  of  rich  and  wise, 
and  a  class  of  poor  and  ignorant,  and  termi- 
nates of  course  in  some  European  form  of  go- 
v.  r •lment. 

1  have  heard  it  said  that  the  weight  of  ta- 
lents in  Congress,  has  already  appeared  very 
visibly  against  the  agriculturists.  Let  us  not 
deceive  ourselves  by  ascribing  this  to  popular 
folly  in  elections.  It  is  owing  to  the  transit 
of  wealth  and  of  course  wisdom,  from  agricul- 
ture to  its  natural  enemies,  charter  and  privi- 
lege. Tliis  constant  process  diminishes  daily 
the  chance  for  elections  to  hit  on  agricultural 
talents  and  will  soon  destroy  the  power  to  ob- 
tain them.  If  the  fact  exists  as  to  a  deficien- 
cy of  these  talents  in  Congress,  it  proves  the 
existence  of  a  moral  system  which  begets  that 
fact,  ami  discloses  the  inevitable  fate  of  the 
agricultural  interest. 

To  the  force  of  this  baleful  system,  as  well 
as  to  the  brevity  proper  for  an  essayist,  some 
of  the  defeats  sprinkled  throughout  the  view  I 
have  taken  of  t  lie  political  state  ofagricul- 
Cure, ought  injustice  to  be  ascribed  ;  and  if  it 
fails  to  excite  the  agriculturists  in  and  out  of 
Congr  9  to  look  fnfo  their  situation,  it  will 
onlv  ,  rive  that  tfre  sy stench  as  already  had  its 
etfe'-t  oa  tin  auftior or kis  readers;  Charter- 
ed kn  pvlerlg  ■  k  kepi  alive  by  its  aSsoi  latl  no, 
and  chartered  interests  advanced  by  frequent 
auu  mature    consultations.     An  imitation    of 


$6  Tnz  POLTTICAX  STATE 

this  example  is  the  only  mode  of  reviving  agri- 
cultural knowledge,  and  of  obtaining  justiet 
for  agricultural  i merest.  And  if  the  sugges- 
tion of  establishing  agricultural  societies  in 
each  Congressional  district,  for  the  purpose  of 
considering  and  explaining  respectfully  to 
Congress,  what  does  it  good,  and  what  does  it 
harm,  in  imitation  of  other  interests,  should 
be  adopted  by  Agriculture,  it  may  at  \east 
require  the  capacity  of  distinguishing  betvecfl 
good  and  evil.      (Note  A.) 


gjp  agriculture.  St 


NUMBER  IS. 


SLAVERY. 

Negro  slavery  is  a  misfortune  to  agriculture, 
incapable  of  removal, and  only  within  the  reach 
of  palliation.  The  state  legislatures,  hopeless 
of  removing  all  its  inconveniences,  have  been 
led  by  their  despair  to  suffer  all  ;  and  among 
them,  one  of  a  magnitude  sufficient  to  affect 
deeply  the  prosperity  of  agriculture,  and 
threaten  awfully  the  safety  of  the  country;  I 
allude  to  the  poliey  of  introducing  by  law  into 
society,  a  race  or  nation  of  pe  pie  between  the 
masters  ai.d  slaves,  having  rights  extremely 
different  from  either,  called  free  negroes  and 
mulattoes.  It  is  not  my  intention  to  consider 
the  peril  to  which  this  poliey  exposes  the  safe- 
ty of  the  country,  by  the  excitement  to  ir^ur- 
reetion  with  which  it  perpetually  goads  the 
slaves,  the  channels  for  communication  it  af- 
fords, and  the  reservoir  for  recruits  it  provides. 
I  shall  only  observe,  that  it  was  this  very  po- 
licy, which  first  doomed  the  whites,  and  then 
the  mulattoes  themselves,  to  t!ie  fate  suffered 
by  both  in  Saint  Domingo:  and  which  contri- 
butes greatly  to  an  apprehension  so  often  exhi- 
bited. Being  defined  by  experience  in  that 
country,  and  by  expectation  in  (his.  it  is  unne- 
cessary forme  to  consider  the  political  conse- 
quences of  this  poliey. 

My  present  object  is  to  notice  its  influence 
on  agriculture.  I  his  so  entirely  depends  on 
slaves  in  a  great  proportion  of  the  union,  that 
6. 


<S  SLAYLHT. 

it  must  be  deeply  affected  by  whatever  sLali 
indispose  tliem  to  labor,  render  them  intrac- 
table, or  entice  them  intoa  multitude  of  crimes 
and  irregularities.  A  free  negro  and  mulatto 
class  is  exactly  calculated  to  effect  all  these 
em's.  They  live  upon  agriculture  as  agents 
or  brokers  for  disponing  of  stolen  products,  and 
diminish  its  capital,  both  to  the  extent  of  these 
stolen  products,  and  also  to  the  amount  of  the 
labour  lost  in  carrying  on  the  trade. 

They  wound  agriculture  in  the  two  modes 
of  being  an  unproductive  class  living  upon  it, 
like  a  stock-jobber  or  capitalist  class,  and  of 
diminishing  the  utility  of  the  slaves.  This 
latter  mode  might  be  extended  to  a  multitude 
of  particulars,  among  which,  rendering  the 
slaves  less  happy,  compelling  masters  to  use 
more,  strictness,  disgusting  them  with  agricul- 
ture itself,  and  greatly  diminishing  their  abi- 
lity to  increase  the  comforts,  and  of  course  the 
utility  of  slaves,  would  be  items  deeply  trench- 
ing upon  itt  prosperity.  It  is  hov ever  unne- 
cessary to  prove  ^  hat  every  agriculturist  in 
the  slave  states  experimentally  know  s,  namely 
that  his  operations  afre  greatly  embarrassed, 
and  las  efforts  retarded,  Ky  circumstances  hav- 
ing the  class  of  free  negroes  for  their  cause. 

'1  he  only  remedy  is  to  get  lid  of  it.  This 
measure  ought  to  be  settled  by  considerations 
#f  a  practical  moral  nature,  and  not  by  a  mo- 
ral hypothesis,  resembling  several  inrehani- 
eal  inventions  incarcerated  at  Washington, 
beautiful  and  ingenious,  but  useless.  It  is  sub- 
stantial, not  balloon  morality,  by  which  the 
questions  ought  to  be  consider!  d  ;  whether  a 
severance  of  tLc  free  negro  class  from  the 
whites  and  slaves,  will  benefit  or  injure  either 


slavery. 


of  the  three  classes  ,*  or  whether  it  will  benefit 
or  injure  a  majority  of  them  as  constituting  one 
body  ?  The  situation  of  the  free  negro  class 
is  exactly  calculated  to  force  it  into  every 
species  of  vice.     Cut  off"  from   most^f  the 


rights  of  citizen?,  and  from  all  the  allowa"frt 
of  slaves,  it  is  driven  into  every  species  of 
crime  fur  subsistence  ;  and  destined  to  a  life 
of  idleness,  anxiety  and  guilt.  The  slaves 
more  widely  share  in  its  guilt,  than  in  its  frau- 
dulent acquisitions.  They  owe  to  it  the  per- 
petual pain  of  repining  at  their  own  conditi- 
on hy  having  an  object  of  comparison  before 
their  eyes,  magnified  by  its  idleness  and  thefts 
wilh  impunity,  into  a  temptation  the  most  al- 
luring to  slaves  ;  and  will  eventually  owe  to 
it  the  consequences  of  their  insurrections. 
The  whites  will  reap  also  a  harvest  of  conse- 
quences from  the  free  negro  class,  and  thro'- 
ont  all  their  degrees  of  rank  suffer  much  in 
their  morals  from  the  two  kinds  of  intercourse 
maintained  with  it.  If  vice  is  misery,  this 
middle  class  is  undoubtedly  placed  in  a  state 
of  misery  itself,  and  contributes  greatly  to 
that  of  the  other  two.  The  interest  of  virtue 
therefore,  as  well  as  sound  policy,  is  allied 
with  the  interest  of  agriculture,  in  reeommen- 
i  ding  the  proposed  severance.  If  it  should  not 
benefit  every  individual  of  the  three  classes, 
as  is  probable,  no  doubt  can  exist  of  its  bene- 
fitting a  majority  of  each,  and  a  very  great 
majority  of  (lie  v»hole.  No  injury,  but  much 
good  to  the  whites  and  slaves  is  perceivable  in 
the  measure.  And  relief  iVom  tli^ disad van- 
tagesof  inferior  rights,  from  the  necessity  of 
living  in  a  settled  course  of  vice,  and  from  the 
dangers  portended  to  it  by  a  eonimatien  amoa^ 


60  SLAYERT. 

the  slaves,  promises  great  benefits  to  the  free 
negro  class  itself  from  a  severance. 

It  may  be  easily  effected  by  purchasing  of 
Congress  lands  sufficient  for  their  subsistence 
in  states  where  slavery  is  not  allowed,  and  giv- 
ing them  the  option  of  removing  to  those 
lands,  or  emigrating  wherever  they  please. — 
Perhaps  both  the  national  safety  and  prosperi- 
ty would  justify  a  harsher  measure.  To  ad- 
vance both  by  bestowing  rewards,  cannot  be 
severe,  unjust  or  illiberal. 

At  least  it  will  be  admitted  by  those  ac- 
quainted with  the  sulject,  that  the  prosperity 
of  agriculture  is  considerably  influenced  by 
the  circumstances  alluded  to  in  this  number. 


SLIVEUY.  Gi 


DUMBER  ii> 


slavkrv,  cox;::. 


Societies  are  instituted  to  control  and  di- 
minish the  imperfections  of  human  nature, 
because  without  them  it  generates  ignorance, 
savageness  and  tlopravif.y  of  manners.  Ti: 
best  constituted  cannot  however  eu'.  e  it  o?  a 
disposition  to  command,  and  to  live  by  the  la* 
hoe  of  others  ;  it  is  eternally  forming  sub-so- 
cieties Ibr  acquiring  p  >\wr  and  wealth,  and  (o 
rfidioiis,  amotions,  avaricious  or  \\\- 
constitutftnal  sub- societies^  the  liberty  and 
property  of  the  rest  ofttJeSouy  politic  i;.is  u- 
ni versa! ly  fallen  a  prey.  They  are  of  a  civil 
or  military  complex W/n,  or  of  botli,  as  :he  ci 
cumstances  '•!".'.  •  .• >  c  may  inquire  (V.uid  or 
ibree.  Ajilicnt'y,  the  general  ignoranee  of 
'  i.i:!,  causefl  the  frauds  of  sn.nei'stiiion  lo 
M'^vilrw.;,:,;.'  ,,!,  ,;:.'■  of  traitorous  sfft- 
-  :  ti  •.  As  these  became  exploded,  the 
more  itc"  pecuniary;  frauds  were  resort- 

ed to.  XoWj  on  avemnt  of  t lie  ine&aslng 
knowledge  and  v.-.ovc  prying  temper  of  man- 
kind, military  force  is  united  with  pecuniary 
frauds.  Ami  hitherto  the  must  perfect  socie- 
ty i'j?  the  public  good>  has  never  been  auje  (  i 
dcfcndftself  against  sub-societies  income  fotun 
I*.;:-  advancing  the  wealth  or  jicw?r  oTq  fiction 
or  a  par/icutar  interestJ  Combine  with  this 
universal  «pfpcriencc   tin*  it  i-  mle   to 

conceive  a  form  better  calculated  !o 

.c  and  foster  ftfffioits.  or  sub-societies,  than 
tr. 


62  SLAVERY. 

one  constituted  of  distinct  colors,  incurable 
prejudices,  and  inimitable  interests,  and  tbe 
inferences  are  unavoidable.  If  tbe  badges  of 
foolish  names  can  drive  men  into  pbrenzy 
without  cause,  Mill  not  tbose  which  powerful- 
ly assail  both  reason  and  the  senses,  create 
deadly  factions. 

Tbe  attempt  will  undoubtedly  terminate  ac- 
cording to  the  nature  of  man,  as  it  has  once 
already  terminated  ;  but  its  catastrophe  ought 
lather  to  be  courted  than  avoided  if  the  author 
of  the  Notes  on  Airginia  is  right  in  the  follow* 
jag  quotations.  <•  1  he  whole  commerce  be- 
tween master  and  slave"  says  he  "is  aperpe- 
*•"  lual  exercise  of  the  most  boisterous  passi- 
f.  ons,  the  most  unremitting  despotism  on  one 
'•'  part,  and  degrading  submissions  on  the  other. 
•*  The  parent  storms,  the  child  looks  on, 
"  catches  the  lineaments  of  wrath,  puts  on  the 
'•'  same  airs  in  the  circle  of  smaller  slaves, 
ii  gives  a  loose  to  his  worst  of  passions,  and 
*  thus  nursed,  educated  and-  daily  exercised 
«'  in  tyranny,  cannot  but  be  stamped  by  it  with 
•4  odious  peculiarities.  The  man  must  be  a 
*'  prodigv  who  can  retain  his  manners  and  mo- 
<»  rals  undepraved  by  such  circumstances. — 
«*  The  Almighty  has  no  attribute  which  can 
"  take  side  with  us  in  such  a  contest.''  Such 
is  the  picture  exhibited  in  the  Notes  on  Vir- 
ginia of  "the  manners"  of  the  people,  without 
a  single  palliating  circumstance;  and  Winter- 
botham  in  his  history  of  America  has  quoted 
and  varnished  it  anew. 

No  man  has  been  less  accustomed  than  the 
author  of  the  Notes  on  Virginia  to  paint  his 
opinions,  for  the  same  reason  that  an  Indian 
paint?  his  body ;   and  yet  from  reading  the 


SLAVERY.  65 

"whole  chapter  on  the  manners  of  that  state,  a 
stranger  would  hardly  form  a  more  correct  i- 
dea  of  ihem,  than  a  stranger  to  Indians  would 
of  their  color,  on  seeing  one  painted  coal 
black.  Circumstances  affect  the  mind,  as 
weather  does  beer,  and  frequently  produces  a 
sort  of  moral  fermentation,  which  throws  up 
bubbles  of  prismatic  splendor,  whilst  they  arc 
played  upon  by  the  rays  of  some  temporary 
effervescence,  but  destined  to  burst  when  the 
fermentation  ceases.  The  Notes  on  Virginia 
were  written  in  the  heat  of  a  war  for  liberty  ; 
the  human  mind  was  made  still  hotter  by 
the  French  revolution ;  and  let  those  who 
were  insensible  of  the  mental  fermentations 
and  moral  bubbles  generated  by  these  causes, 
censure  Mr.  Jefferson.  I  should  be  unjust  to 
doit. 

If  Mr.  Jefferson's  assertions  are  correct,  it 
is  better  to  run  the  risque  of  national  extinc- 
tion, by  liberating  and  fighting  the  blacks, 
than  to  live  abhorred  of  God,  and  consequent- 
ly hated  of  man.  If  they  are  erroneous,  they 
ought  not  to  be  admitted  as  arguments  for  the 
emancipating  policy.  The  considerations, 
which  this  chapter  of  impassioned  censure  of 
slave  holders,  inspire,  are  too  extensive  for  a 
hasty  essay,,  but  a  few  of  them  may  be  noti- 
ced. I  shall  pass  over  the  enlistment  of  the 
Deity  in  the  question  with  an  humble  hope, 
that  his  justice  and  mercy  do  not  require  the 
whites  and  blacks  to  be  placed  in  such  a  rela- 
tive situation,  as  that  one  color  must  extin- 
guish the  other  ;  and  as  inclining  to  think  the 
enrolment  of  his  name  on  the  side  of  the  slaves 
somewhat  like  a  charge  of  inattention  to  his 
own  attributes,  in  apparently  siding  with  mai- 


64  ilAVEET.     " 

ters  throughout  all  ages  and  aniens  most  na- 
tions hitherto,  the  liberating  St.  Domingo 
masters  excepted  :  and  not  a  little  tinged  with 
impiety.  Slavery  was  carried  farther  among 
the  Greeks  and  Romans  than  among  ourselves, 
and  yet.  these  two  nations  produced  more  groat 
and  good  pat 

all  the  rest  of  the  world.    In  the  United  St  i 
ii  is  also  lethat  the  public  and  private 

character  of  individuals  is  as  good,  a-  in  the 
countries  where  loco-motive  liberty  and  stsre- 
iv  to  a  faction,  exist  ;  nor  do  the  "  •  .tesr 
seem  less  productive  of  characters  in  whom  the 
nation  is  willing  to  confide  than  t  lie  others.  E- 
ven  the  author  oft  he  quotation  hiflGselfmay  be 
fairly  adduced  as  an  instance  which  refutes  e- 
vei-v  syllable  of  hi*  chapter  on  Virginia  man- 
ners, unless  indeed  this  refutation,  and  an  a- 
huadance  of  others  like  it.  can  be  evaded  by 
forming  the  best  citizens  into  a  class  of  pro- 
digies or  mongers,  to  evade  the  force  of  emi- 
nent virtues  towards  the  refutation  of  em 
ous  assertions. 

These  facts  are  referred  to  the    considera- 
tion of  the  physiologist.     To  me  it  seems,  I 
slaves  are  too  far  below,  and  too  much   in 
power  of  the  master,  to  inspire  furious  passi- 
ons; that  such  are  nearly  as  rare  and  ilisgraee- 
fnl  towards    slaves    as   towards   horses:  I 
slaves  are  wore  frequently  the   objects  of  be- 
nevolence than  of  iv.ge  :  that   children   I 
thoir  nature  are  inclined  to  soothe,  and  hai 
ever  suffered   to  tyrannize   over  them  :   I 
they  open  instead  of  shut    the  sluices  of  L\ 
vobnee  in  tender  minds  :  and  that  few  g 
public  or  private  characters  have  been  i ...  ■ 
in  countrie:>  enslaved  by  some  faction  or  j     * 


SLAVE!?  Y.  6g 

ticular  interest,  tlian  in  those  where  personal 
slavery  existed. 

I  conjecture  the  cause  of  this  to  be,  that  vi- 
cious and  mean  qualities  become  despicable  in 
the  eyes  of  freemen  from  their  association 
with  th''  character  of  slaves.  Character,  like 
eo  olition  is  contrasted,  and  as  one  contrast 
causes  us  to  love  liberty  better,  so  the  other 
causes  us  to  love  virtue  better.  Qualities, 
odious  in  themselves,  become  more  con- 
tern])!  ible,  when  united  with  the  most  de- 
graded class  of  men,  than  when  seen  with 
our  equals  ;  and  pride  steps  in  to  aid  the  strug- 
gles of  virtue.  Instead  therefore  of  fearing 
that  children  should  imbibe  the  qualities  of 
slaves,  it  is  probable,  that  the  circumstance 
of  seeing  bad  qualities  in  slaves  will  contri- 
bute to  their  virtue. 

For  the  same  reason  the  submission  and 
flattery  of  slaves  will  be  despised,  and  cause 
us  rather  to  hate  se*rvi!iiy  than  to  imbibe  a 
dictatorial  arrogance  ;  &  onh  in>;  ire  the  same 
passion  with  the  submission  and  (lattery  of  a 
Spaniel.  It  is  the  submission  and  flattery  of 
equals,  which  til's  men  with  the  impudent  and 
wicked  wish  to  dictate,  &  an  impatience  of  free 
opinion  &  fair  discussion,  This  reprehensible 
temper  is  a  sound  objection  against  any  species 
of  human  policy,  which  generates  it,  and  ap- 
plies most  forcibly  against  that  conferring  on 
an  individual  a  power,  s  »  to  dispense  money  & 
honors,  as  to  procute  submission  and  flattery 
from  the  highest  ranks  and  coiiditions  in  soei- 
etv,  a  thousand  times  more  genial  to  pride, 
than  the  submission  and  flattery  of  a  poor 
slave  ;  and  ten  thousaud  times  more  pernici- 
ous to  nations. 


66  SliVEEY. 

Virtue  and  vice  are  naturally  and  unavoid- 
ably coexistent  in  the  moral  world,  as  beauty 
and  deformity  are  in  the  animal  ;  one  is  the 
only  mirror  in  which  the  other  can  be  seen, 
and  therefore  in  the  present  state  of  man,  one 
•annot  be  destroyed  without  the  other.  It 
may  be  thus  that  personal  slavery  has  con- 
stantly reflected  the  strongest  rays  of  civil  li- 
berty and  patriotism.  Perhaps  it  is  suffered 
by  the  deity  to  perform  an  office  without  which 
these  rays  are  gradually  obscured  and  finally 
obliterated  by  charters  and  partial  lasts.  Per- 
haps the  sight  of  slavery  and  its  vices  may  in- 
spire the  mind  with  an  affection  for  liberty 
and  virtue,  just  as  the  climates  and  desarts  of 
Arabia,  would  make  it  think  Italy  a  paradise. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  I  approve  of  sla- 
very because  I  do  not  aggravate  its  evils,  or 
prefer  a  policy  which  must  terminate  in  a  war 
of  extermination.  T!ie  chapter  on  the  man- 
ners of  slave-holders  before  quoted,  concludes 
with  an  intimation,  that  the  consent  of  the 
masters  to  a  general  emancipation,  or  their 
own  extirpation,  were  the  alternatives  between 
which  they  had  to  choose.  Such  a  hint  from 
a  profound  mind  is  awful.  It  admits  an  abi- 
lity in  the  blacks,  though  shackled  by  slavery, 
to  extirpate  the  whites,  and  proposes  to  in- 
crease this  ability  by  knocking  off  their  shac- 
kles. Such  a  hint  adds  force  to  the  recom- 
mendation in  the  previous  essay  for  separating 
the  enslaved  and  free  blacks,  as  some  security 
against  the  prognosticated  extirpation.  And 
after  such  a  hint,  "  with  what  execration- 
should  the  statesman  be  loaded"  vho  thus 
forewarned,  should  produce  the  destruction  of 
the  most  civilized  portion  of  society,   and  re* 


slavery.  Q7 

people  half  the  world  with  savages.  Tf  En- 
gland and  America  would  erect  and  foster  a 
settlement  of  free  negroes  in  some  fertile  part 
of  Africa,  it  would  soon  subsist  by  its  own  e- 
ncrgics.  Slavery  might  then  be  gradually  re- 
exported, and  philanthropy  gratified  by  a  slow 
reanimation  of  the  virtue,  religion  and  liberty 
of  the  negroes,  instead  of  being  again  afflicted 
with  the  effects  of  her  own  rash  attempts  sud- 
den] v  to  change  human  nature. 
rXote  B.) 


68  ©TXRSEERS. 


NUMBER  15. 


OTERSEERS. 


So  far  from  having  a  system  of  agriculture 
among  us,  very  few  have  even  taken  the  trou- 
ble to  discover  or  provide  any  basis  for  one.— 
Had  Archimides  proposed  to  move  the  earth 
without  any  thing  for  himself  or  his  mechan- 
ism to  stand  on.  or  an  architect  to  erect  a  city 
without  a  foundation,  such  projects  would  Lave 
been  equivalent  to  ours  for  erecting  a  system 
©  agriculture  upon  the  basis  of  the  impove- 
rishment of  the  land.  Of  what  avail  is  any 
rotation  of  crops,  the  best  contrived  imple- 
ments of  husbandry,  or  the  most  perfect  use 
of  those  implements,  applied  to  a  barren  soil  ? 
Could  a  physician  correctly  call  the  regular 
administration  of  a  slow  poison  a  system  of  me- 
dicine, because  he  used  the  best  constructed 
lancets,  caudle  cups,  syringes  and  clyster  pipes 
in  killiug  his  patient  ? 

It  is  absurd  to  talk  of  a  system  of  agricul- 
ture, without  having  discovered,  that  every 
such  system  good  for  any  thing,  must  be  bot- 
tomed upen  fertility.  Before  therefore,  we 
launch  into  any  system,  we  must  learn  how  to 
enrich  our  lands.  The  soil  of  the  United 
States  upon  tLc  Atlantic  Ocean  is  naturally 
thin,  and  exceedingly  impoverished.  It  pro- 
duces however  good  crops,  v*l  en  made  rich, 
almost  under  any  species  of  c-u'iivation.  To 
m;ike  it  rich  therefore  o«£bf  to  i>e  the  first  ob- 
ject of  our  eliwits.  as  without  effecting  this,  all 


6WEHSEEES.  69 

other  agricultural  objects  beneficial  to  our- 
selves ov  our  country  must  fail.  Instead  of 
this,  for  one  acre  enriched,  at  least  twenty  are 
impoverished. 

The  disposition  of  our  soil  and    climate  to 
reward  husbandry  bountifully,  is    disclosed  id 
the  great  returns  bestowed  upon  had   culture, 
by  the  very  moderate  degree  of  natural  ferti- 
lity, possessed  by  the  former.     The  climate  is 
beyond  our  power,  but   the  productiveness   of 
the  soil  without  the  help  of  art,  is   an  encou- 
ragement for  us  to  recollect  how  impiously  we 
have  neglected  the  cultivation  of  a  D  ity    so 
propitious      But  this  Deity  has  a  rival  demon 
called  ignorance,  for  whose   worship  the  slave 
stales    have  erected  an  established   church, 
villi  a  ministry,  entitled  overseers,  fed.  cloth- 
ed am!  paid  to  suppress  eery  effort  for  intro- 
ducing the  worship  of  its  divine   adversary  — 
This  necessary  class  of  men  are    bribed  by  a- 
.gricuhurisls,  not  to  improve,  but  to  impove- 
rish their  land,  by  a  share  of  the  crop  for  one 
\ear;  an  ingenious   contrivance   for  placing 
(be  lands  in  these  states,  under  an  annual  rack 
rent,  and  a  removing  tenant.     The  farm,  from 
several  gradations  to  an  unlimited  extent,   is 
surrendered  to  the  transient  overseer,    whose 
ry  is  increased  in  proportion  a%  be  cap  im- 
poverish the  land.     The  greatest  annual  crop, 
and  not  the  most  judicious   culture,  adv:::. 
his  interest,  and  establishes  his  character;  and 
the  fees  of  these  land  doctors  are  much 
for  killing  than  for  curing.     It  is  common  for 
an  industrious  overseer,  after  n  years, 

to  quit  a  farm  on  account  Of  the  barrenness, 
occasioned  by  his  own  in  ,;e::f 

changes  of  the sej  \ 

7. 


70  ovE.iJsrr.ns. 

culture,  each  striving  to  extract  the  rem  nam 
of  fertility  left  by  his  predecessor,  combines 
with  our  agricultural  ignorance,  to  form  the 
completes!  >ysteuiof  impoverishment, ofwhieh 
any  other  country  can  boast. 

I  mean  not  to  speak  disrespectfully  of  over- 
seers :  they  arc  as  good  as  other  people  ;  nor 
is  it  their  fault  if  their  employers  have  made 
i heir  wealth  and  subsistence  to  depend  on  the 
aent  of  half  a  continent.  The  most 
v.  bich  the  land  can  >icld.  and  seldom  or  never 
improvement  with  a  view  to  future  profit]  is  a 
point  of  eommc% consent  and  mntaal  need  be- 
tween  the  agriculturist  and  his  overseer;  and 
they  generally  unite  in  emptying  the  cup  of 
fertility  to  the  dregs. 

It  is  discovered  in  England  from  experience, 
that  short  leases  were  the  worst  enemies  to  A- 
grieulturc.  Those  of  twenty  one  jears 
found  by  experience  to  he  two  short  for  im- 
provement. Must  the  practice  of  hiring  a 
man  for  cue  year  by  a  share  of  the  crop,  to  lay 
out  all  his  skill  and  industry  in  killing  land, 
and  as  little  as  possible  in  improving  it.  sug- 
gested by  the  circumstances  and  neeessith  - 
settling  a  wilderness  among  hostile  savages, 
he  kept  up  to  commemorate  the  pious  leaning 
of  man  to  his  primitive  state  of  ignorance  and 
barbarity; 

Unless  this  custom  is  abolished,  the  attempt 
to  fertilize  our  lands.,  is  needless.     Under  the 
frequent  emigrations  of  owners  from  State  to 
State,  and  of  o\  erseers  from  plantation  to  pi 
t  at  ion.  it   cannot   be  ace 
rishment  viil  proceed,  distress  will  follow,  and 
famine  a  ill  close  the   scene.     It  is   a 
which  injures  both    employers  and  overseers. 


OVERSEERS.  f± 

by  gradually  diminishing  flic  income  of  the  one 
and  of  course  the  wages  of  the  other.  Wages 
in  money  Mould  on  the  contrary,  correspond 
with  a  system  of  gradual  improvement,  by 
which  the  condition  of  both  parties  would  he 
annually  bettered,  and  skill  in  improving,  not 
a  murderous  industry  id  destroying  land,  would 
soon  become  a  recommendation  to  business  and 
a  thermometer  of  compensation. 


7.2  IX  CLOSING. 


*r 


NUMBER  16, 


IXCLOSING. 


The  modes  of  fertilizing  land  form  a  sjSr 
tern,  wholly  unfit,  as  we  shall  see  upon  enume- 
rating a  few  of  its  constituents,  to  be  enforced 
by  an  itinerant  order,  bribed  to  counteract 
most  or  all  of  them.  The  most  effectual  is 
found,  when  we  have  found  the  most|  Co- 
pious fund  of  manure.  Manures  are  mineral, 
vegetable  or  atmospherical.  Perhaps  the  two 
last  may  be  resolvable  into  one.  Mineral  ma- 
nures are  local  and  hard  of  access.  But  the 
earth  swims  in  atmosphere  and  inhales  its  re- 
freshments. The  vegetable  world  cover*  the 
earth,  and  is  the  visible  agent,  to  which  its 
surface  is  indebted  for  fertility.  If  the  vast 
ocean  of  atmosphere  is  the  treasury  of  vege- 
table food,  vegetable  manure  is  obviously  inex- 
haustible. The  vegetable  world  takes  its 
stand  upon  our  earth  to  extract  the  riches  of 
this  treasury,  larger  than  the  earth  itself,  and 
to  elaborate  them  into  a  proper  form  for  fer- 
tilizing its  surface.  The  experiment  oi*  the 
willow  planted  a  slip  in  a  box  containing  200 
pounds  of  earth,  and  at  the  end  of  a  few  years, 
exhibiting  a  tree  of  200  pounds  weight,  without 
having  diminished  the  earth  in  which  it  grew, 
demonstrates  the  power  of  the  vegetable  world 
to  extract  and  to  elaborate  the  atmospherical 
manure.  This  200  pound  weight  of  willow, 
was  a  prodigious  donation  of  manure  by  the 
atmosphere  to  the  200  pound  weight  of  earth 


ixcxosixg,  KQ 

in  which  it  grew.    It  was  so  much  atmosphere 
condensed  by  the   vegetable   process,  into  a 
form  capable  of  being  received   and  held  by 
the  earth,  and  of  being  reduced  to  vegetable 
food,  during  its  struggles  to  return  to  its  own 
principle  through  the  passes  of  putridity  and 
evaporation.     Vegetables,  like  animals,  feed 
on  each  other.     Inclosing  for  the  sake  of  rear- 
ing vegetables  to  enrich  the  earth,  is  the  mode 
by  which  the  greatest    quantity  of    atmos- 
pherical manure  can  be  infused   into  it   with 
the  least  labor.     It  is  prepared  and   spread 
without  expence.     Cross  fences,  those   draw- 
backs of  man's  folly  from  divine  benevolence, 
are  saved  by  inclosing  to  fertilize  ;  and  if  the 
laws  for  confining  laml  under  inclosures,  for 
permitting  animals  to  prowl  at  large,  and  for 
punishing    landholders     for   the    trespasses 
committed  by  these  marauders  on  their  land, 
were  made  more  conformable  to  justice,  com- 
mon sense  and  common  interest,  the  supplies 
of  manure  from  the  vegetable  world,  would  be- 
come combined  with  a  vast  diminution  of  la- 
bor.    Thus  the  two  primary  objects  ofagricul- 
turc,  (to  fertilize  the  land  and  save  labor) 
would  be  both  attained  to  a   measureless  ex- 
tent.    Vegetables  would  collect  from  the  at- 
mosphere, an  inexhaustible  supply  of  manure, 
and  spread  it  on  land  ,■  fencing  and  timber  to 
great    extent    would  be   saved,  and  agricul- 
ture would  soon  aspire  to  her  most  elegant 
ornament  and  useful  improvement,  live  fences. 
But  alas !  we  persist  in    the  opinion   that 
lands  trespass   on  cattle,   and  not  cattle  on- 
land.     Out  of  emulation  I  suppose  of  an  an- 
cient doctrine,  which  the  bayonet  only  could 


7i  I5TL0SIXC. 

eonfufc..  thai  it  was  better  to  G  gft 

to  the  tail  than  the  should* 

It  is  yet  a  que-;  ;her  the  ^n- 

rkhcd  by  any  specie?  of  manure,   est 
vegetable  or.atau  <-;].  and  experiments 

Lave  hitherto  leaned  towards  tl.e  negative.— 
Without  r.cw  accessions  of  vegetable  matter, 
successive  heavy  dressings  \% iih  lime,  gypsum. 
and  even  marie,  have  been  frequently  found  to 
terminate  in  impoverishment,     lience  it  is  in- 

redythaf  minerals  operate  a*  an  exciter 
only  to  the  manure  furnished  by  the  atmos- 
phere. Frem  this  fact  results  the  hnpossibi- 
li'y  of  renovating  an  exhausted  soil.  by  resort* 
ing  to  fossils,  whiefa  will  expel  the  poor  rem- 
nant of  life,  and  indeed  it  is  hardly  probable 
that  dni  :ged  in  the  towels 

the  earth,  the  man are  m  Cor  its   sur- 

face. 

However  this  question  may  be  determined, 
the  impossibility  ining  mineral  manure 

•amities  sufUh  lit    10  enrich    an   impove- 
il-hcd  country,  leaves  us  no  alternative;  whilst 
lie  efforts  it  excites  in  the  agony  of 
death.,  an-  better  calculated  to  accelerate    the 
oil,  and  to  ;  tc  nation,  sa  by  in- 

to remedy  tl. 
i  f  raeessare  culture. 
lfi   getable  matter  is  tidier  the  only   ma- 
nure, ci  the  only  aftaiaab] 

.ins  cast 
'■:-  sm  u.ce.  aad  discover  the  demand,  by  coni- 
..2;  if  e  impoverishment.  We  Waal  as  much 

aefe   to  the  state 
m  which  we  set    i 
hefoie  ve  can    i  1  he  ration   m 

;  it  is  the  yokefellow  cf  the  earth:  these 


lyctosrxo.  »$ 

associates  must  thrive  or  starve  together;  if  the 
nation  pursues  a  system  of  lessening  the  food 
of  the  earth,  the  earth  in  justice  or  revenge 
will  starve  the  nation.  The  inclosing  svstem 
provides  the  most  food  for  the  earth,  and  of 
eourse  enables  the  earth  to  supply  most  food  to 
man.    It  is  time  working  on  space. 


>£  i<ci:ii5?L 


ST'MBER  IT, 


iscxos:  rs. 

I    •  us  boldly  face   the    fa  unhj 

early  mined.     H  awn 

trth  three  fourths  of  the  vegeta- 
ble matter  it  eontained,  within  reach  of  the 
plough.  Vegetable  ma  it 
for  convening  food  to  us.  If  we  suck  our  mo- 
ther to  death  we  must  die  ourselves.  Though 
she  is  redueedto  a  skrk  us  not   d 

pair.  She  i=  indulgent,  and  if  we  reiura  to 
the  ■  revealed   by   the  consequences  of 

their  infraction,  to  be  prescribed  by  God. 
demonstrated   by  die   same  eonseqnenees  to 
comport  with  our  interest,  she   v 
us  milk. 

We  must  restore  to  the  earth  i 
matter,  before  it  can  restore  to  us  its  bo; 
ful  crops.     In  three  or  four  j  I  as 

I  remember,  the  willow  drew  from  the  aiL 
phere.  and  bestowed  two  hundred   weight  of 
table  matter,  on  two  hundred  weight    of 
earth,  exclusive  of  1 1  shed  each 

year.  Had  it  been  cut  up  and  usee!  r.;  a  ma- 
Dure,  how  vastly  would  it  have  enriched  the 
two  hundred  weight  of  earth  it  grew  on  :    The 

rates  that  by  the  useof  vegetal: 
we  may  collect  manure  from  the  atmosphere, 
withara]  >jndanee.  farexceed- 

hat  of  which  we  have  robbed  the  earth--*- 
And  it  is  a  faet  of  high  eneoura- 
though  it  would  be  on  - 


JNTLOSIXO,  ?7 

to  our  happiness,  to  retrace  our  step*,  should 
i;  even  take  us  two  hundred  years  to  recover 
the  state  of  fertility  found  here  by  the  first 
emigrants  from  Europe  ;  and  though  religion 
and  patriotism  both  plead  for  it,  yet  there 
might  be  found  some  minds  weak  or  wicked 
enough,  to  prefer  the  murder  of  the  little  life 
left  in  our  lands,  to  a  slow  proeess  of  resusci- 
tation. 

Forbear,  oh  forbear  matricide,  not  for  futu- 
rity, not  for  God's  sake,  but  for  your  own 
sake.  The  labour  necessary  to  I  ill  the  rem- 
nant of  life  in  your  lands,  will  suffice  to  revive 
them.  Employ  ad  to  kill,  it  produces  want 
aud  misery  to  youiself.  Employed  to  revive, 
it  gives  you  plenty  and  happiness.  It  is  mat- 
ter of  regret  to  be  compelled  to  rob  the  liberal 
mind  of  the  sublime  pleasure,  bestowed  by  a 
consciousness  of  having  done  its  utmost  for  fu- 
ture ages,  by  demonstrating  that  the  most  sor- 
did \> ill  do  the  utmost  for  gratifying  its  own 
appetites,  by  fertilizing  the  earth  :  that  the 
process  is  not  slow,  but  rapid  :  the  returns 
not  distant,  but  near  ;  and  the  gain  not 
small  but  great. 

Inclosing  is  a  single  channel  for  drawing 
manure  from  the  atmosphere  and  bestowing  it 
on  the  earth.  Though  it  is  the  great  canal, 
there  are  a  multitude  of  feeders.  These  arc 
not  lost  in  admiration  of  the  most  powerful 
mode  for  fertilizing  the  earth,  and  will  be  sub- 
sequently remembered. 

At  present  it  is  necessary  to  consider  the 
beat  mode  of  practising  the  enclosing  theory. 
It  is  one  which  can  only  succeed  in  combina- 
tion villi  a  great  number  of  agricultural  prae 


75  INCLOSING. 

tices.  at  enmity  with  those  which    at   present 
piv\ail. 

If  i;  at  enmity  with  the  practice  of  summer. 
fallowing  for  wheat.  Being  founded  in  the 
doctrine,  thai  vegetables  extract  the  princi- 
ples ol'  fertility  from  the  atmesplu  re.  and  ela- 
borate ii;(iu  into  a  manure  fur  the  rani',  it  i- 
inconsistent  with  the  doctrine  that  the  earth 
will  be  improved  by  keeping  it  bare.  If  vege- 
tables do  not  feed  upon  and  consume  earth,  but 
npoii  the  atmospherical  mar,:'!.',  which  may 
have  been  introduced  into,  or  i<  floating 
it.  then  a  naked  fallow  by  increasing  evapora- 
tion, will  impoverish  the  earth,  and  « 
each  ploughing  a  portion  <  i  this  Heeling  fer- 
tility, without  i(=  being  ed  by  a  ei 

It  accords  with  the  doctrine  of  turning  in  a 
eTover  lay.  or  a  bed  of  any  other  vegetable 
matter,  for  a  crop  speedily  sown  or  planted 
thereon,  without  disturbing  this  new  bed  ofve- 
gctables.  by  which  the  previous  stock  of  at- 
mospherical manure  in  the  earth  is  vastly  in- 
ereased,  and  the  least  loss  by  evaporation  sus; 
tained. 

It  is  at  enmity  with  >hallow  ploughing,  be- 
cause it  admits  atmospherical  manure  into  the 
earth  by  water  and  air,  to  a  less  depth,  and 
loses  it  sooner  by  evaporation)  and  the  more 
rapid  escape  of  water  from  its  fluidity. 

It  accords  with  deep  ploughing,  because  it 
enables  the  earth  to  absorb  more  atmospheric 
cal  manure  through  the  two  great  vehicles, 
air  and  water;  and  because  it  buries  deeper 
th.-manu  re  deposited  ok  the  earth  in  a  vegeta- 
ble form:  in  one  ease  inhaling  more,  and  in 
both  exhaling  less. 

It  is  at  enmity  with  the  custom  ofexposfng 


INCLOSING.  7  9 

a.  flat  surface  to  the  sua,  and  accords  with  an 
opposite  one  ;  because  by  the  first  the  force  of 
its  rajs  in  promoting  evaporation  is  increased 
and  by  the  second  diminished.  These  eases 
are  selected  to  suggest  to  the  reader,  that  the 
theory  of  fertilizing  the  earth  by  atmospheri- 
cal or  vegetable  manure,  is  one,  which,  if  cor- 
rect, will  reach  and  influence  nearly  the  whole 
circle  ofour  agricultural  modes  of  managing 
the  earth. 


§&  INCLOSING.. 

KUNBER  18. 

INCLOSING,  COUTIXV: 

If  plants  feed  on  earth,  why  do  they  p 
by  drought  ?     If  they  did  not  feed  on   atmos- 
pherical manure,  why  do  (hey  instantly  revive 
from  rain  ?     And  why  do  hem  conside- 

rably reuved  even  without  rain,  when  the  air 
becomes  condensed,  after  having  been  greatly 
ratified,  if  the  food  it  affords  them  was  not 
thin  in  one  case,  and   more  substantial  in  the 
other? 

Drought  becomes  far  lc?s  pernicious  to 
crops,  in  proportion  to  the  stock  of  atmosphe- 
rical manure  with  u Inch  the  earth  lias  been 
stored  to  meet  it,  and  the  obstacles  opposed  to 
its  loss. 

To  avoid  a  frequent  reference  to  experience 
as  a  voucher  for  the  doctrines  advanced  in  These 
essays.  I  shall  once  for  all  observe,  that  they 
are  always  drawn  from  that  source,  except 
when  the  contrary  is  expressed.  But  it  would 
he  tiresome  io  the  reader  to  wade  throng 
list  of  experiments  made  with  stry 

than  scientific  skill,  for  a  lon£  coarse  ofti 
and  suggested,  not  by  a  love  of  fame,  but 
necessity.  Besides  we  must  acquire  pri 
pies  before  we  descend  to  details. 

Let  us  return  to  the  case   of  drought.     Its 
effects  are  greatly  diminished  by  burying  with 
the  plough  a  copious  supply  of  veget  able  mat- 
ter, and  by  opposing  an  uneven  surface  to 
poratioa.     It  is  because  tbii  vegetable  rnatt^- 


INCLOSttfC.  81 

«r  atmospherical  manure,  elaborated  into  a  so- 
lid form,  is  the  food  of  plants  ;  and  this  food 
is  retained  longer  by  deep  ploughing  and  an 
uneven  surface,  than  by  shallow  ploughing 
and  a  level  surface.  And  if  these  latter  prac- 
tices are  not  combined  with  a  good  stock  of 
vegetable  food,  the  effects  of  drought  appear 
sooner,  and  are  more  fatal. 

The  sudden  benefit  of  rain  to  plants,  demon- 
strates that  it  is  loaded  with  their  food  ;  and 
its  transitory  efl'oet  equally  demonstrates  that 
this  food  rapidly  evaporates.  There  is  no  ma- 
nure the  effects  of  which  are  more  sudden  or 
less  permanent.  As  they  disappear  from 
drought,  the  loss  must  be  attributed  to  evapo- 
ration, (.'hecks  upon  evaporation  are  of  course 
auxiliaries  to  the  inclosing  system. 

The  shade  to  the  earth  is  a  check  it  natural- 
ly produces,  and  a  consequence  of  this  check 
is,  that  the  atmospherical  manure  carried  by 
air  or  rain  into  the  earth,  being  longer  retain- 
ed, is  imbibed  in  greater  quantity  by  the  ve- 
getable cover,  and  elaborated  into  a  manure 
more  permanent,  than  when  deposited  in  these 
vehicles. 

Wood,  and  all  the  vegetables  of  softer  tex- 
ture, are  exposed  to  the  effects  of  putrefaction 
and  evaporation,  in  a  degree  so  far  below  wa- 
ter, that  a  complete  dressing  of  atmosperical 
manure,  conveyed  in  the  vegetable  vehicle, 
will  discover  its  benefit  for  years,  whilst  one 
.convened  in  rain  will  disappear  in  a  l'<w  weeks. 
It  follows  that  the  nearer  the  vegetable  vehicle 
of  manure  from  the  atmosphere,  approaches  to 
wood,  the  longer  it  will  last,  and  that  the  near- 
er it  approaches  to  Mater,  the  shorter  it  will 
last 


i.  txctosLse. 

If  (Lis  principle  is  sound,  a  poiat    of  great 
importance  to  the  inclosing  svsteia  is  settled  : 
whether  it  is  better  to  plough  in  vegetables  in 
a  succulent  or  a  drr  state  I    Every  experiment 
I  have  ever  made,  decides  in  favor  of  the  lat- 
ter, and  these  decisions   correspond    with   the 
requisitions  of  our  theory.     By  ploughing  in 
the  vegetables  succulent,   we  stop  the  process 
for  extracting,  elaborating  and  condensing  at- 
mospherical manure,  and  chiefly  burv  water, 
liable  to  the  laws  of  evaporation,  demonstrat- 
ed in  the   ease  of  rain,  the   richest,  but  tfcja 
it  short  lived  of  every  species  of  manure. 
The  rapidity  with  which  the  water  of  vegetn- 
culent  state  evapc  is  demon- 

strated  in  curing  grass  fur  hay  :  and  the  lo-^  is 
probably  greater  when  tbe  vegetable  is  never 
ced  at  a!l  to  a  dv\  and  hard  state.  On  the 
contrary,  by  suffering  the  vegetable  to  acquire 
its  most  -olid  form,  it  will  extract  more  ma- 
nure from  the  atmosphere,  and  this  manure 
will  be  retained  vastly  longer  b-v  the  earth  ;  so 
long  indeed?  that  a  good  farmer  will  accumu- 
late fresh  supplies  upon  a  remaining  stock 
from  time  to  lime,  so  as  to  replenish  his  land 
at  a  compound  ratio.  And  by  suffering  the  ve- 
getable cover,  whatever  it  is,  to  gain  its  hard- 
est form,  it  affords  longer  shade  to  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  whilst  it  i?  also  making  daily  ex- 
tracts from  the  atmosphere,  during  its  wholo 
succulent  existence,  to  be  deposited  within  its 
bowels. 


IKCL05IXG. 


NUMBER  19. 


INCLOSING,  CONTINUED. 

To  draw  from  the  atmosphere  the  greatest 
quantify  of  manure,  to  check  the  loss  the  earth 
sustains  from  evaporation  during  the  process 
hy  shade,  to  give  the  manure  the  most  lasting 
form,  and  to  deposit  it  in  the  most  beneficial 
manner,  are  primary  objects  of  the  enclosing 
bj  stem. 

The  best  agent  known  to  us  for  effecting  the 
three  first,  is  the  red  clover.  Its  growth  is 
rapid  ;  its  quantity  exceeds  the  product  of  any 
other  grass  :  it  throws  up  a  succession  of  stems 
in  the  same  summer:  and  these  stems  are 
more  solid  and  lasting  than  those  of  other  gras- 
ses. These  successive  growths  constitute  so 
many  distinct  drafts  from  the  great  treasure  of 
atmospherical  manure  in  one  year.  Whilst 
these  drafts  are  repeated,  the  clover  is  daily 
securing  the  treasure,  in  a  form  able  long  ta 
elude  the  robber  evaporation,  tyhoni  it  also  op- 
poses by  shade.  To  its  extracting  from  the 
atmosphere  t lie  greatest  quantity  of  manure, 
and  elaborating  it  into  a  lasting  form  the  most 
suddenly  of  any  other  vegetable  cover,  clover 
lavs  for  wheat  are  indebted  for  their  fame. — 
Their  success  lias  been  attributed  to  the  por- 
tion of  the  vegetable  in  a  succulent  state, 
whilst  it  was  owing  to  the  greater  portion 
which  had  arrived  to  maturity  previous  to  the 
fallow.    To  ascertain  this  fact,  let  one  moiety 


4i  KrcrosixG. 

of  a  clover  field  be  turned  in  as  soon  as  its  firs! 
crop  flowers,  and  the  other  after  the  stem  of 
the  last  crop  is  hard,  and  the  whole  sown  on 
«ine  day  in  wheat. 

The  peculiar  propensity  of  clover  to  he  im- 
proved by  a  top  dressing  of  the  gypsum,  is  an- 
other striking  circumstance  of  its  affinity  to 
the  system  for  fertilizing  land  by  its  own  co- 
ver. As  its  growth  is  suddenly  and  vastly  in- 
creased by  this  top  dressing,  it  furnishes  rea- 
son to  believe,  that  the  effect  flows  from  a  dis- 
position communicated  by  the  gypsum  to  ilie 
clover,  for  imbibing  atmospherical  food  by  its 
external  parts:  and  so  much  as  it  thus  gains, 
affords  to  the  earth  a  double  benefit.  One,  1  hat 
this  food  not  being  extracted  from  the  stock  of 
atmospherical  manure,  possessed  by  the  earth, 
docs  not  impoverish  it :  the  other,  that  being 
bestowed  on  the  earth  from  whence  it  was  not 
taken,  it  adds  to  its  fertility. 

The  tap  root  of  the  clover  also  advances  the 
intention  of  the  inclosing  system  in  several  res- 
pects. By  pierciMg  the  earth  to  a  considera- 
ble depth,  apertures  or  pores  are  created  for 
imbibing  and  sinking  deeper  a  great  or  quanti- 
ty of  atmospherical  manure  :  so  well  defended 
by  the  shade  of  the  top  :  and  the  friability 
t litis  communicated  to  the  soil,  affords  a  most 
happy  facility  to  the  plough,  for  turning  in  its 
vast  bed  of  vegetable  matter. 

In  commemorating  the  value  of  clover  as  an 
agent  for  transferring  a  portion  of  the  inex- 
haustible wealth  of  the  atmosphere  to  the 
earth,  we  must  not  forget  that  every  member 
of  the  vegetable  world,  contributes  to  the  same 
purpose  ;  and  that  these  auxiliaries  to  clover 
-vyill  powerfully  second  its  efforts,  and  may  be 


1.NCL03IXG.  Sj 

successfully  substituted  for  it,  where  circum- 
stances deny  its  use.  In  the  exhausted  lands, 
sandy  soil  and  dry  climate  or  the  country  be- 
low the  mountains,  clover  will  not  live.  Re- 
course must  therefore  be  had  to  other  means 
of  improving  the  land,  to  endow  if,  with  a  cap;  - 
city  of  resorting  to  its  use.  It  is  eminently  en- 
dowed with  this  capacity  by  a  certain  degree 
of  fertility,  and  thenceforth  good  management 
will  retain  and  increase  it. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  best  substitute  for 
clover  sbould  be  sought  for  by  experience. — 
The  bird  foot  clover,  as  it  is  called,  is  one  of 
considerable  promise  :  it  will  flourish  in  a  san- 
dy soil,  is  equally  improved  by  the  gypsum, 
affords  early  and  good  shade,  makes  a  multi- 
tude of  seed,  and  may  by  a  small  degree  of 
skill,  be  kept  up  without  being  sown.  Though 
it  perishes  early  in  the  summer,  it  yet  leaves  a 
great  cover  of  dry  vegetable  matter  on  the 
earth,  which  defies  evaporation,  until  theplough 
ean  turn  it  in.  And  its  dead  eo;:t  is  frequent- 
ly pierced  by  other  grasses,  and  somelimes  by 
luxuriant  growths  of  weeds,  before  unknown 
to  the  soil,  which  seem  to  come  forward  as 
witnesses  to  the  fact  of  its  fertilizing  the  land. 
This  grass  is  an  enemy  to  wheat  on  account  of 
its  early  and  rapid  growth,  and  of  course  ought 
only  to  he  used  to  fertilize  land  in  which 
wheat  ought  not  to  be  sown.  And  as  wheat 
cannot  be  be  beneficially  sown  in  land,  unable 
to  produce  red  clover,  the  bird  foot  clover 
seems  designed  to  take  up  the  care  of  the  soil, 
at  the  point  of  impoverishment  where  the  red 
lays  it  down.  As  red  clover  is  '.he  best  associ- 
ate of  wheat,  for  the  purpose  of  sa-ving  and  im- 
proving a  good  soli,  bird  foot  is  the  best  asscr* 
o, 


&6  ixtxasixti. 

ciate  of  Indian  corn  for  rendering    the  same 
services  to  a  bud  one. 

Individuals  ofilie  vegetable  world  are  quot- 
ed, not  to  insinuate  that  their  powers  for  the 
object  proposed  are  extremely  peculiar,  but 
to  illustrate  my  hypothesis.  The  entire  vege- 
table creation  must  contribute  towards  sus- 
taining this  hypothesis,  or  it  must  fall.  If  it 
is  supported  by  this  spacious  foundation,  there 
are  few  systems  better  supported.  Therefore 
after  having  deduced  the  benefit  resulting  to 
land  by  inclosing,  from  the  hypothesis  that  ve- 
getables draw,  retain,  and  bestow  en  t lie  earth 
The  atmospherical  manure  in  great  abundance, 
I  shall  proceed  to  consider  other  modes  of  ma- 
nuring it.  chiefly  founded  in  the  same  hypo- 
thesis 


MAXURIN«#  *7 


NUMBER  20, 


MASURIXC. 


It  is  not  my  design  to  advance  any  thing 
strange  or  new,  or  to  recommend  expensive, 
difficult,  or  uncommon  modes  of  improving 
land.  Brilliant  projects  for  improvement,  iu 
the  present  state  of  agriculture,  would  belike 
diamonds  set  in  lead.  My  utmost  design  is  to 
point  out  a  few  improvements  which  even  ig- 
norance can  understand,  and  poverty  practice  ; 
yet  such  as  may  not  be  beneath  the  regard  of 
knowledge, nor  the  interest  of  wealth. 

The  most  abundant  sources  for  artificial  ma- 
nure in  the  most  exhausted  district  of  our  coun- 
try, are  the  offal  of  Indian  corn,  the  straw  of 
small  grain  and  the  dung  of  animals.  "NYe  find 
in  the  tuo  first  proofs  of  the  value  of  dry  vege- 
tables as  a  manure.  If  these  few  means  for 
fertilizing  the  country,  were  skilfully  used, 
they  would  of  themselves  suffice  to  change  its 
Hate  from  sterility  to  fruitfulness.  But  they 
are  so  egregiously  neglected  or  mismanaged, 
that  we  hardly  reap  a  tythe  of  their  value. 

There  is  no  farinacious  plant  which  furnish- 
es so  rich  and  so  plentiful  a  crop  as  the  Indian 
corn.  It  yields  food  in  abundance  for  man, 
beast  and  land.  By  the  litter  of  Indian  corn, 
and  of  small  grain,  and  by  penning  cattle,  ma- 
i  aged  with  only  an  inferior  degree  of  skill  iu 
union  with  inclosing,  I  will  venture  to  affirm, 
that  a  farm  may  in  ten  years  be  made  to  dou- 
ble its  produce,  and  in  twenty  to  quadruple  it  ; 


■•i  maxi  :.i.v_:. 

the  ratio  of  its  increased  value  is  of  course  still 
greater. 

There  fs  no  other  secret  in  the  business  than 
that  none  of  these  manures  be  wasted.  The 
agriculturist  who  expect;  to  reap  good  crops 
from  neglecting  his  manures,  is  equally  a  fa- 
natiek,  with  the  religionist  who  expects  hea- 
ven from  neglecting  his  morals. 

Details,  however   uneutertai:iing,  may  not 
be  useless  ;  therefore   I  snail  often  resort  to 
them.     The  stalks  of  corn    should    constitute 
the  chief  litter  and  part  of  the  food,  both  of  the 
U*  rtiid  farm  pen  yard,  during    the  winter. 
The  sooner  they  are  used  after  die  corn  is  ga- 
thered, the  more  saecharum  remains  to  bestow 
■vali;e  on  thera  as  food,  and  the   more  manure 
will  yield,  as  evaporation  diminishes  both; 
and     this    proceeds   IV.r   more    rapidly  v.  hilst 
standing  single,  subject  to  the  vicissitudes  of 
weather,  than   when  immersed  in  the 
moisture  aud  cold  climate  of  the  farm  yard. — 
I  food,  they  are  better  for  horses  than   for 
cattle,    because  of  the   superior   masticating 
v  of  the  former;  whereas  cattle  are  able 
to  eat  but  little  of  the  stalk  itself,  and  chiefly 

selves  <o  picking  an  inferior  ; 
attached  to  it.  Stalks  carried  morning  and 
evening  in  loads,  into  the  farm  pen  and  stable 
yard,  furnish  both  to  cattle  and  horses  much 
food,  but  ta  the  latter  early  in  the  l  inter,  they 
are  a  species  of  fodder  the  most  beneficial  I 
have  eve;-  tied  :  and  besides  the  manure  they 
furnish  will  amply  recompencethe  farmer,  by 
enabling  him  to  spare  his  hay  and  corn  blades, 
to  be  used  when  the  labor  of  his  team  becomes 
harder.  They  enable  him  also  to  relieve  his 
land  from  the  tax  of  pasturing  horses,  by  the. 


MANur.i>*cr.  go. 

preservation  oFhay  and  blades  for  the  summer's 
use,  and  are  in  that  way  eminently  subservient 
to  l he  inclosing  system. 

To  the  stalks  are  to  be  added  the  blades, 
tops,  shucks  and  cobs  of  the  Indian  eorn,  all 
in  some  degree  a  food,  and  a  plentiful  litter. 
The  value  of  the  cob  as  a  food  is  highly  spo- 
ken of,  but  has  not  been  ascertained  by  me; 
as  a  manure,  by  depositing  them  in  deep  far- 
rows two  or  three  feet  apart,  barely  covering 
them  with  a  plough,  and  bringing  the  land 
two  years  afterwards  into  tilth,  1  have  found 
them  excellent.  In  every  view  they  illustrate 
the  vegetable  power  of  elaborating  atmosphere 
into  hard  and  enriching  substances. 

The  great  object  in  making  and  applying 
the  manure  arising  from  litter  of  every  kind, 
and  the  dung  of  animals,  is  to  avoid  the  loss  by 
evaporation.  In  obedience  to  the  old  English 
authorities,  I  have  in  various  ways  compound- 
ed dunghills,  kept  (hem  through  the  summer, 
and  covered  with  earth  and  with  bushes  the 
manure  of  the  farm  pen  :  and  the  loss  lias  been 
regularly  graduated  by  the  fermentation  pro- 
duced, from  a  moiety  to  three  fourths,  being 
invariably  greater,  the  better  the  litter  was 
1.  or  the  greater  the  degree  oF  fermenta- 
tion. As  a  farther  experiment  to  ascertain 
th«'  same  fact,  I  have  several  limes  penned  the 
■  aitleon  the  same  space  for  tW  same  peri- 
od, ploughing  up  one  portion  as  soon  a*  the  pen 
was  removed,  and  leaving  the  Other  uuplough- 
ed  fur  eight  or  ten  weeks.  On  putting  ho'h 
at  onetime  on  the  same  erop,  the  result  has  uni- 
formly been,  a  vast  inferiority  to  a  lire,  of  that 
Jefl  exposed  to  the  eillots  ol*  evaporation. 


00  MANURING. 


XOIBES  21. 


MANURING,  CONTINUED. 


An  effervescence  which  shall  become  so  in- 
tense, as  lo  produce  a  visible  evaporation  or 
smoke,  is  said  to  be  an  effect  of  ploughing  in  a 
cover  of  green  vegetables,  and  this  effect  is 
stated  as  an  argument  of  fertilizing  conse- 
quences to  the  earth.  If  an  escaping  torrent 
of  manure  is  calculated  to  impart  lasting  ferii- 
lity  to  the  earth,  then  the  hypothesis  which 
considers  evaporation  as  a  channel  for  impo- 
verishing, and  not  for  fertilizing  the  earth,  is 
an  error.  Then  also  the  ancient  English  ha- 
bit of  making  manure  by  contriving  every 
means  of  promoting  evaporation  is  correct, 
and  the  modern  notion  that  this  habit  wastes 
manure  by  restoring  it  to  the  atmosphere,  is 
incorrect.  The  heat  of  the  sun  will  some- 
times make  wet  earth  smoke,  but  instead  oT 
enriching,  it  thereby  extracts  the  manure  con- 
tained in  Water.  The  evaporation  of  green 
vegetables  in  a  perceptible  smoke,  must  have 
a  similar  effect.  The  idea  that  this  smoking 
of  the  earth  was  a  proof  that  \vc  Mere  making 
a  great  quantity  of  manure  of  green  vegetables, 
may  have  been  borrowed  from  inferring  the 
same  thing  from  the  smoking  of  dunghills  com- 
pounded  of  dry;  and  whilst  the  latter  opinion 
is  exploded  by  the  common  instances  of  the 
vast  loss  of  manure  it  produces  in  these  dung- 
hills, the  former  may  have  continued,,  though 


MANtBIXG*  91 

-> 

founded  la  the  same  principle,  for  want  of  fa- 
miliar experiments  to  disprove  it. 

The  system  of  husbandry  for  fertilizing  the 
earth,  by  increasing  its  friability,  for  the  sake 
of  enabling  it  more  copiously  to  inhale  the  at- 
mospherical manure,  has  the  great  defect  of 
not  providing  against  the  effects  of  exhalation. 
Inhaled  atmosphere  being  as  rare  and  as  light 
a.s  inhaled  water,  is  as  liable  to  the  laws  oi 
evaporation,  and  its  benefit  to  the  land  must  of 
course  be  as  transient.  Against  this  defect, 
the  permanency  of  atmospherical  manure,  in 
the  form  of  hardened  vegetables,  so  much  less 
exposed  to  these  laws,  provides. 

To  support  the  details  of  manuring  it  is 
necessary  to  advert  occasionally  to  principles. 
Tull's  husbandry  is  the  remedy  recommend- 
ed for  the  erroneous  opinion,  that  ten  cultivat- 
ed acres  will  not  produce  the  means  of  manu- 
ring above  one.     This  error  is  founded  on  the 
Inhaling,  without    considering  the    exhalinp 
qualify  of  the  earth  ;  audio  supply  the  war. 
of  manure,  v.  e  are  ad\  ised  to  expose  our  land 
to  evaporation  in  the  greatest  possible  degree 
by  naked  fallows. 

On  the  contrary,  I  am  convinced,  that  if 
we  will  watch  and  arrest  the  thief  evapora- 
tion, whether  stealing  our  means  for  raising 
manure,  or  sweating  the  earth  as  a  Jew  sweats 
gold,  we  shall  discover  modes  of  fertilizing 
land  infinitely  beyond  our  most  sanguine  hopes 
both  by  additions  of  manure,  and  obstructions 
to  evaporation. 

Twenty  live  years  ago,  I  found  more  difficul- 
ty in  manuring  one  acre  for  live  laborers,  in- 
cluding women  and  boys,  owing  to  a  waste  ol 
my  means  for  raising  manure,  and   an  igno* 


Qt  Mimriterc 

rence  of  apph  ing  it,  than  I  now  do  in  manur- 
ing two  acres  for  each.  By  manuring  two 
acres  for  each  laborer,  with  the  three  resour- 
ces only  common  to  every  bread  stuflTfarm.it 
follows  that  we  may  manure  about  one  seventh 
of  the  land  we  annually  put  in  tilth,  if.  as  I 
suppose  we  can  seldom  plough  more  than  four- 
teen acres  for  each  laborer,  including  women 
aud  boys.  This  is  at  once  attaining  to  the 
summit  of  European  exertion,  without  the  aid 
of  lime,  marie,  soot,  the  sweepings  of  cities, 
and  several  other  resources  for  improving 
land,  v  hic-h  contribute  greatly  towards  eon- 
ducting  European  farmers  to  the  same  stage 
of  improvement  ;  and  without  the  vast  beneiit 
of  inclosing.  Two  reasons  exbt  for  an  event 
apparently  so  unlikely ;  the  Indian  corn  fur- 
nishes a  fund  of  litter  for  raising  manure,  infi- 
nitely exceeding  any  of  theirs,  and  their  waste 
of  manure  by  evaporation  is  avoided. 


<MVtf  USING. 


NUMBER  23. 


WAKURIKC,  CONTINUES. 

This  subject  compels  me  to  revert  to  a  use 
of  Indian  corn,  before  the  mode  of  its  culture 
Is  considered.     Its  blade  makes  the  finest  fod- 
der, and  if  well  saved,  furnishes  but  little   lit- 
ter, because  it  is  all  eaten.     Being  the  best 
liay  it  ought  to  be  saved  for  the   hottest  and 
inost  laborious  season  of  the  year,  which   oc- 
curs immediately  after  the  green  clover  fails. 
The  first  part  of  the  Indian  corn  which  should 
be  used  as  food,  is  the  stalk,  because  it  is  har- 
der to  keep  sound  through   the  winter,   than 
^ny  other  fodder,  and  its  saccharum  is    conti- 
nually wasting.     The  tops  should  be   devoted 
to  covering  a  farm  pen  of  rails,  in  the  form  of 
three  sides  of  a  square,  closed  to  the  ground  on 
the  outside,  and  open  within,  and   to  a    house 
for  pumpkins  and  turnips  stacked  in  the  com- 
mon form.     Some  loss  will    accrue  from  the 
evaporation  of  a  cover,  whether  composed  of 
straw  or  corn  tops,   and    tops  make   infinitely 
the  best.     And  some  annual  cover  of  a  winter's 
farm  pen  for  cattle,  is  indispcnsible,  as  being 
a  vast  saving  upon  the  European  custom  of  sta- 
tionary cow  houses.  Arthur  Young  is, I  think, 
of  opinion,  that  1200  acres  is  that  size  for  a 
farm  best  adapted  for  the  economy   of  labor. 
Suppose  two  hundred  and  fifty    acres  of  this 
farm  to  be  annually  ploughed,  and  fifty  to    be 
«*HHueily  manured  :  If  this  manuring  is  com* 


9i>  MANUXIKG. 

nienced  around  a  station  for  raising  manure,  in 
four  years  the  station  is  isolated  in  the  midst 
of  two  hundred  acres  of  manured  land,  leav- 
ing it  about  six  hundred  yards  distant  from  the 
nearest  of  the  un manured  land,  which  dis- 
tance increases,  as  the  manuring  is  extended, 
from  that  minimum,  to  its  maximum,  namely, 
the  distance  from  the  centre  to  the  verge  of  ai 
area  of  one  thousand  two  hundred  acres. 
Hence  the  expence  of  carrying  in  the  litter 
and  carrying  out  the  manure,  will  presently 
become  so  enormous,  as' to  drive  the  farmer 
into  the  ancient  ruinous  and  abandoned  custom 
of  infield  and  outfield,  or  that  of  highly  impro- 
ving a  spot  around  his  house,  and  highly  im- 
poverishing the  rest  of  his  farm. 

An  ambulatory  cow  house  is  the  remedy  for 
this  disastrous  mode  of  management.  rl  he 
sheep  and  cattle  should  be  employed  in  manu- 
ring abroad,  and  the  horses  ai  borne.  The 
farm  pens  of  the  farmer  should  be  placed  in  the 
field  for  cultivation,  with  an  eye  to  conveni- 
ence or  saving  of  labor,  both  in  receiving  the 
stalks  from  the  shift  of  the  preceding  year, 
and  also  in  distributing  the  manure  in  that  to 
be  cultivated.  It  is  far  better  to  make  a  lane 
of  great  length  to  conduct  the  cattle  to  water, 
than  to  omit  this  management. 

The  greatest  assiduity  should  be  used  in  con- 
veying the  corn  stalks  to  these  farm  pens,  and 
the  stable  yard  as  early  as  possible,  reserving 
the  shucks*,  the  straw,  the  tops,  the  blades,  and 
the  hay  for  later  periods  :  because  the  injury 
to  the  stalks  standing  single  and  exposed  to  the 
vicissitude  ofweather  is  infinitely  greater  from 
evaporation,  than  to  these  other  articles  of 
food  and  liiter.    Some  small  quantities  of  straw 


MANURING.  95 

and  shucks  should  however  be  used  with  them, 
to  produce  compactness  as  a  defence  against 
evaporation,  and  to  treat  the  cattle  with  a  va- 
riety of  food,  so  grateful  to  animals.  The  straw 
and  the  shucks  after  the  stalks  are  all  in,  will 
bestow  a  cover  on  them,  impenetrable  to 
drought,  and  secure  against  evaporation  ;  the 
several  kinds  of  litter  are  beneficially  mingled, 
and  the  tops  which  covered  the  cow  house  are 
the  last  food  of  its  inhabitants. 

The  ground  to  be  manured,  should  be  fal- 
lowed in  the  winter,  since  the  more  friable  its 
state,  the  better  it  commixes  with  the  unrot- 
ted  contents  of  the  farm  pens,  and  the  better 
these  contents  are  covered  with  the  plough. — 
If  this  is  neglected,  the  want  of  a  thorough 
commixture,  and  the  exposure  of  manure  on 
the  surface,  both  of  which  will  happen  in  a  de- 
gree when  the  long  litter  of  the  farm  pen  is 
carried  on  unploughed  ground,  generally 
causes  the  loss  of  one  half  of  the  manure,  and 
•Be  half  of  the  crop. 


-96  Mx^rEi.v^. 

XUMBER  %9. 


JIAKUSIKG.  CCNTIKfED. 

The  winter's  fallow  to  receive  the  spring 
manure,  is  a  business  capable  of  some  improve- 
ment, and  economy  of  labor.  This  fallow, 
i*ben  the  manure  is  for  Indian  corn,  as  it  ought 
to  be  where  that  grain  is  cultivated,  should  be 
made  by  three  furrows,  forming  a  ridge  five  feet 
&  an  half  wide.  Two  of  these  i'urrows  are  made 
by  a  large  plough,  calculated  to  cut  deep  and 
wide,  and  to  turn  the  sod  complelely  f.vrr  ;  and 
the  third  by  a  plough  called  a  trowel  hoe, made 
one  third  larger  than  usual,  vrith  a  coulter  on 
the  point,  and  a  mould  board  on  each  side.  If 
the  field  has  been  left  in  such  ridges  at  its  last 
cultivation,  the  large  plough  cuts  a  furrow  on 
the  ridge  on  each  sideof  its  summit,  making  the 
sod  it  turns  up  to  meet  thereon,  and  leaving  un- 
der that  sod  all  the  earth  it  can  cover,  unbroken, 
these  two  furrows  will  leave  the  old  water  fur- 
row between  them,  or  an  equivalent  space, 
which  the  described  trowel-hoe-plough,  with 
its  two  large  mould  boards  will  break  up, 
throwing  the  sod  on  each  side.  Both  these 
ploughs  should  be  drawn  by  four  horses,  leav- 
ing the  furrow  made  by  the  trov*  el-hoe  un- 
commonly deep  and  wide.  In  this  state  the 
ground  lies  through  the  winter.  Its  vegetable 
cover  is  buried  so  as  to  escape  some  loss  by 
evaporation,  the  unbroken  space  is  so  mellow- 
ed by  the  cover  of  the  sed,.  as  to   become   soft 


MAXTJRINQ.  97 

and  friable  by  the  spring,  and  the  bottom  of 
the  large  open  furrow,  commonly  a  dead  clay, 
is  invigorated  by  a  winters  exposure  to  the  at- 
mosphere. 

The  manure  ought  to  be  devoted  to  Indian 
corn,  because  a  crop  of  great  value  is  thereby 
gained,  whilst  it  is  going  through  the  process, 
supposed  in  England  to  be  necessary  to  reduce 
it  to  vegetable  food.  Complete  putrefaction 
is  I  here  considered  as  necessary,  for  this  end. 
"Whereas,  by  planting  the  Indian  corn,  as  soon 
as  the  uurotled  manure  of  the  farm  pen  is  car- 
ried out  and  ploughed  in,  its  growth  is  greatly 
nourished  and  finally  perfected,  by  the  time 
the  putrefaction  is  completed.  It  catches  the 
evaparation  produced  by  the  moderate  fermen- 
tation of  the  rotting  vegetable  matter  of  which 
the  manure  is  compounded,  and  exactly 
that  portion  of  manure  which  is  lost,  by  tho 
custom  of  rotting  it  before  it  is  used,  becomes; 
the  parent  of  a  great  crop.  By  the  fall  the 
manure  is  reduced  to  a  fit  pabulum  for  wheat, 
and  even  more  of  it  is  saved  for  this  end,  min- 
gled in  the  earth,  and  subject  to  a  moderate 
fermentation,  than  if  it,  had  been  retained  in 
hot  dunghills  through  the  summer,  exposed  to 
a  violent  effervescence,  and  then  exclusively 
devoted  to  this  crop  upon  a  naked  fallow. — 
The  area  manured  would  not  be  at  most  above 
half  the  extent,  and  the  degree  of  enrichment 
nearly  the  same. 

Indian  corn  thrives  better  with  unrotted  ma- 
nure, than  any  other  crop,  and  is  precisely  the 
•rop,  and  almost  the  solitary  one,  ready  to  as- 
sociate with  coarse  litter,  the  first  growing 
weather  which  occurs  after  it  is  applied.  Po- 
tatoes and  tobacco  may  possibly  possess  the 


98  MANTRIXG. 

same  quality.  The  former  certainly  associate 
veil  with  coarse  manure,,  but  neither  are  pro- 
fitable as  a  crop  ;  one  is  not  adapted  to  the  cli- 
mate favorable  to  Indian  corn,  and  the  other 
is  not  admissible  into  any  good  system  of  agri- 
culture* 


MAOTRINCft  U'J 

NUMBER  2iu 

MANURING,  CONTINUED^ 


Manure  from  the  litter  of  a  farm  ought  to 
be  chiefly  made  in  the  cool  portion  of  the  year 
to  avoid  the  enormous  loss  produced  by  a  com- 
bination of  heat,  moisture  and  vegetable  mat- 
ter. If  a  considerable  portion  of  this  litter  is 
reserved  for  the  summer's  use,  a  considerable 
loss  is  unavoidable.  A  small  part  of  it  only 
may  be  kept  for  the  stable,  more  for  the  sake 
of  the  horses  than  for  the  object  of  manure.— 
It  is  better  for  that  object  to  exhaust  the  litter 
in  the  winter  season,  than  to  reserve  any  of  it 
for  summer,  if  the  opinions  that  vegetables  ex- 
tract manure  from  the  atmosphere,  and  that 
manures  are  gradually  evaporated  back  totheis 
origin,  be  true  ;  because  litter  is  exposed  to  a 
far  greater  loss  from  evaporation,  by  a  commix- 
ture with  moist  dung  in  summer,  than  if  it 
had  been  spread  on  the  farm  yards  in  winter, 
&  ploughed  into  the  earth  in  spring, before  any 
considerable  fermentation  occurs.  Hence,  as 
the  dung  of  animals,  constitutes  but  a  small 
portion  of  the  manure  which  ought  to  be  raised 
on  a  well  managed  farm,  it  would  be  a  loss  to 
sacrifice  a  considerable  mass  of  vegetable  ma- 
nure, for  this  object  of  inferior  value.  The 
American  custom  of  penning  cattle  during  the 
night  in  the  summer  season,  properly  attended 
to,  is  therefore  a  far  more  thrifty  one,  for  the 
object  of  manuring,  than  the  English,  custom 


100  MA5T7RIX* 

©f  mingling  moist  dung  and  vegetabTe  lifter 
during  that  season.  By  ours,  both  these  kinds 
of  manure  escape  much  of  the  loss  from  evapo- 
ration ;  by  theirs,  this  loss  is  increased  as  to 
both  by  an  excessive  effervescence. 

Yet  the  dnng  of  animals  during  the  summer 
season  is  an  item  of  great  moment  for  enrich' 
ing  lands,  if  it  is  saved  without  subtracting 
from  the  more  valuable  item  of  the  winter's 
fai*m  yards.  The  most  beneficial  mode  of  its 
application  within  the  scope  of  my  observation, 
is  penning  cattle  and  sheep,  graduating  the  size 
of  these  pens  by  observation,  until  the  design- 
ed quantity  of  manure  shall  be  deposited  with- 
in two  weeks  at  most,  and  ploughing  it  in  oa 
the  day  the  pen  is  removed  invariably.  The 
loss  from  evaporation  is  so  great  that  a  pea 
ought  never  to  remain  above  two  weeks.  I 
bave  frequently  seen  cow  pens  continued  in  one 
spot,  until  the  daily  loss  balanced  the  daily  ac- 
cession of  manure  ;  and  the  richness  of  the 
land  with  these  daily  accessions,  became  sta- 
tionary. By  a  regular  course  of  removing 
these  pens,  and  immediately  ploughing  in  the 
manure,  the  farmer  will  be  agreeably  surpris- 
ed to  find,  that  the  improved  area  will  infinite- 
ly exceed  his  hopes  ;  for  his  ground  will  be  e- 
qually  enriched  by  far  less  dung,  on  account  of 
these  precautions  against  evaporation,  and  the 
cattle  will,  of  course,  go  over  a  far  greater 
space. 

The  land  thus  manured  by  the  tenth  of  Au- 
gust, may  be  sown  in  turnips,  at  one  pint  of 
seed  to  an  acre,  broadcast,  Aff er  that  period, 
the  pens  which  had  stood  from  fourteen  down 
to  ten  days  (for  the  time  should  be  diminished 
as  the  cattle  fatten)  should  be  removed  every 


MANURING.  101 

seven  oars,  because  no  draft  will  be  made  from 
the  land  by  a  turnip  crop,  the  quantity  of  the 
manure  is  increased,  the  evaporation  is  dimi- 
nished by  the  length  of  the  nights,  and  the  cat- 
tle have  improved  in  plight. 

One  hundred  head  of  small  and  ordinary  cat- 
tle, of  the  ages  common  when  raised  on  the 
farm,  and  as  many  sheep,  will  in  this  way  ma- 
nure eighteen  acres  annually,  sufficiently  to 
produce  fine  crops  of  Indian  corn  and  wheat, 
and  a  good  growth  of  red  clover  after  them, 
with  the  aid  of  gypsum  ;  and  the  clover  when 
preserved  by  the  system  of  enclosing,  will  by 
two  years  crops,  left  to  fall  on  the  land,  restore 
it  to  the  plough,  richer  than  the  manuring 
made  it.  About  eight  o?  these  acres  will  als(* 
have  yielded  a  good  crop  of  turnips,  good  or 
bad,  according  to  the  season  and  the  soil. 

But  horses  cannot  be  comprised  in  this  mode 
of  management,  because  of  the  inadequacy  of 
tluir  nature  to  its  exposure  and  hardships.— 
"Whatever  they  are  fed  on.  furnishes  some  lit- 
ter, some  must  be  saved  to  help  it  out,  the  ma- 
nure they  make  in  the  summer  should  be  used 
as  late  as  possible  in  the  spring,  and  as  early 
as  possible  in  the  fall,  and  the  litter  saved 
should  only  be  contemplated  to  last,  until  a  new 
supply  from  the  crop  of  wheat  can  come  in.— 
Thpse  precautions  against  evaporation,  with 
placing  the  summer  cleanings  under  cover,  or 
at  least  where  it  may  he  trodden  hard,  may  b« 
resorted  to  without  a  great  sacrifice  «f  litter 
§r  vegetable  jjiajaure, 


182  MAsrRiKC 


NUMBER  25. 


MAKCRIKG.COKTIJIVEB. 

Infinitely  the  most  abundant  source  of  arti- 
ficial manure  within  the  reach  of  a  bread  stuff 
farmer,  is  that  raised  in  farm  peus  during  the 
winter.  Skill  and  industry  in  this  single  point 
would  as  suddenly,  but  more  permanently  im- 
prove the  face  of  our  country,  as  paiut  does 
that  of  a  w  riukled  bag* 

Of  these  pens,  each  with  a  shelter,  there 
should  be  at  least  five,  or  equivalent  divisions 
for  cattle,  beeves,  sheep  a..1  calves,  muttons, 
and  hog9.  A  disposition  of  them  ou^ht  to  be 
made  upon  a  calculation  of  economy,  as  to  the 
combined  objects  of  collecting  the  litter,  car- 
rying out  the  manure  and  feeding  the  animals. 
After  the  Indian  corn  crop  is  planted,  that 
portion  of  it  excepted,  for  which  the  manure 
of  the  farm  yards  is  intended,  these  animals 
should  be  placed  on  their  summer's  establish- 
ment :  every  other  species  of  labor  on  the  farm 
should  cease,  until  the  harvest  of  manure  is 
seemed,  and  its  secuiity  agaiust  evaporation 
should  be  an  object  of  as  much  solicitude,  as 
the  security  of  hay  against  rain.  On  making  a 
breach  in  the  body  of  manure,  the  olfactory 
nerves  will  advise  you  of  the  necessity  of  pre- 
eautions  against  this  loss.  These  are.  to  re- 
move the  manure  in  regular  divisions,  and  not 
by  wounding  and  mangling  it  in  different  pla- 
ces, create  channels  for  the  escape  of  its 
rithest  qualities.     To  deposit  it  in  straight 


MATCHING.  1GS 

rows  and  at  regular  distances  across  the  whole 
field  to  be  manured,  that  the  manure  first 
carried  out,  may  be  immediately  spread  and 
ploughed  in  after  one  row  is  finished.  And 
to  spread  and  plough  in  well  each  row,  with- 
out waiting  for  a  succeeding  one.  The  object 
is  to  secure  the  manure  against  evaporation 
as  soon  as  possible  after  it  is  exposed  to  it. 

My  general  rule  is  to  deposit  the  loads,  con- 
sisting of  as  much  as  four  common  oxen  can 
draw,  in  sqi^ares  at  ten  yards  distant  from 
each  other,  so  that  the  extreme  distance  ia 
spreading  it  will  be  five  from  the  centre  of 
each  heap.  But  this  general  rule  admits  of 
important  exceptions.  Jf  the  land  fluctuates 
in  fertility,  the  loads  may  be  deposited  at 
twelve  yards  distance,  which  is  a  good  dress- 
ing :  and  if  it  is  accompanied  with  gypsum, 
the  quantity  to  an  acre  may  be  diminished  one 
fifth,  in  consideration  of  its  aid. 

For  some  years  I  have  used  gypsum  with 
the  coarse  manure  of  the  farm  yards,  and  I 
think  it  the  most  beneficial  mode  of  using  it. 
The  manure  carried  out  each  day  is  ploughed 
in  before  which  one  bushel  of  gypsum  to  the 
acre,  ground  fine,  is  sown  on  it,  after  it  is 
spread. 

The  reader  will  recollect  that  the  ground  to 
he  manured  has  been  fallowed  into  high  ridges, 
five  feet  and  a  half  wide,  having  a  deep  and 
wide  water  furrow  between  each  ridge.  Over 
this  uneven  surface,  the  coarse  manure  being 
spread  as  equally  as  possible  and  sown  with 
gypsum,  the  ridge  is  to  be  reversed  by  the 
same  three  furrows  and  the  same  two  ploughs 
with  which'  k  was  formed,  each  drawn  by  four 
horses.  On  both  sides  of  the  deep  furrow, 
vith  the  mould  board  towards  i\,  a  deep  *ai 


lOi  ^MANURING. 

wide  furrow  is  to  be  run  by  a  large  plough, 
cutting  on  its  right  side  with  one  share,  so  as 
to  throw  the  earth  it  raises  by  its  mould  board 
into  this  old  deep  furrow,  and  to  form  precise- 
ly in  it,  a  neat  ridge  or  list  on  which  to  plant 
the  corn.  And  the  large  trowel-hoe- plough 
with  its  two  mould  boards,  splits  the  summit 
of  the  fallow  ridge,  and  throws  its  earth  and 
manure  into  the  two  furrows  made  on  each 
side  by  the  preceding  plough.  If  these  ploughs 
are  of  the  proper  kinds,  and  the  operation  is 
well  performed,  the  manure  is  seeured  in  the 
best  manner  against  evaporation,  the  ground 
is  placed  in  fine  tilth,  and  unless  it  is  of  a  very 
unyielding  texture,  shallow  culture  thereafter, 
will  secure  a  crop,  equal  to  the  capacity  of  the 
land. 

A  considerable  saving  of  labor  may  be  made 
by  a  very  simple  instrument  for  raising  the 
manure  into  the  carts,  and  scattering  the 
heaps  ;  and  by  dividing  and  balancing  the  la- 
borers so  judiciously,  that  loading,  carting, 
spreading  and  ploughing  may  proceed,  without 
having  too  few  laborers  at  one  work,  and  too 
many  at  another.  The  instrument  is  precise- 
ly a  hilling  hoe,  except  that  three  strong  square 
iron  prongs  are  substituted  for  the  blade.— 
These  sink  from  the  usual  elevation  of  a  hand 
hoe  by  their  own  weight,  into  the  bed  of  coarse 
farm  yard  manure,  easily  rend  from  its  edge 
or  its  surface,  a  mass  of  manure  equal  to  the 
strength  of  the  laborer,  hold  it  well  in  raising, 
and  by  a  small  jolt,  from  the  helve's  falling  on 
the  top  of  the  cart,  drop  it  therein  with  cer- 
tainty. In  scattering  the  heaps,  they  take  up 
the  manure,  and  eold  it  sufficiently  to  aid  the 
£ct£tfnof  throwing  it  two  or  three  yards.  Over 
*}Ugcd  iusu-iuueot^  their  advantages  are  iu|- 


MANPRl&fi.  iOb 

nite,  as  coarse  manure  must  be  eut  arid  chopt 
to  pieces  with  great  labor,  before  these 
will  raise  or  scatter  it ;  as  several  strokes  are 
often  ncee-sary  to  obtain  a  hoe  or  spade  full  j 
and  as  their  contents  often  fall  offin  being  rais- 
ed. And  orer  the  pitchfork  with  a  horizontal 
handle,  their  pre-eminence  is  little  less,  as 
they  save  the  labor  of  stooping,  and  possess  in 

a  far  greater  degree  the  powers  of  a   lever ■ 

These  pronged  hoes  are  only  unfit  to  scrape  to- 
gether and  raise  the  small  quantity  of  fine 
manure,  which  falls  to  the  bottom  as  the  coarse 
is  removed.  Hoes  and  spades  collect  this  as 
usual.  This  very  simple  instrument,  a  three 
pronged  hoe,  helved  in  the  same  angle  as  a 
common  hilling  hoe,  and  having  its  prongs  as 
long  as  the  blade  of  the  hilling  hoe,  has  I  think, 
enabled  me  for  some  years  to  carry  out  and 
spread  my  f;irm  yard  manure  in  half  the  time 
it  had  previously  occupied.  For  many  purpo- 
ses it  is  also  an  excellent  garden  hoe. 

Some  time  may  be  saved,  and  some  skill  ex- 
erted, even  in  the  simple  object  of  laying  off 
the  ground  to  receive  the  loads  of  manure  — 
Being  ridged,  these  ridges  and  furrows  must 
be  the  course  of  the  rows  of  manure,  to  avoid 
the  inconvenience  of  crossing  them.  The  per- 
son dividing  the  ground  for  receiving  manure 
follows  one,  beginning  live  yards  from  the  edge 
of  his  field,  if  his  rows  are  to  be  ten  apart,  a?:d 
measuring  by  the  step,  which  he  must  by  ex- 
periments have  reduced  to  considerable  accu- 
racy ;  he  digs  a  hole  as  he  proceeds  at  one 
stroke  with  a  hoe,  at  each  spot  on  which  a  load 
is  to  be  deposited.  At  the  same  time  he 
watches  the  quality  of  the  land,  and  lessens  or 
extends  the  distances  between  hu  holes,  ac- 
cording to  that  criterion. 
1« 


lOp  'MANURING. 

3SU3VIBER  26, 

MANURING,  CONTINUED.. 


It  is  unnecessary  to  consider  whether  the 
animal  and   vegetable  manure  I   have  been 
treating  of,  ought  to   be  ranked  among  the 
auxiliaries  of  the  atmospherical,  or  the  atmos- 
pherical degraded  into  an  auxiliary  of  theirs. 
JKor  my  part,  if  1  was  driven  to  the  alternative 
of  rejecting  one,  1  should  not  hesitate  to  cling 
to  ihe  atmospherical,  as  the  matrix  of  all ;  or 
rather  to  that  portion  of  it  within  our  reach, 
i.v  other  channels  than  those  of  farm  yards  and 
animals.     I  would  even  prefer  a  confinement 
to  the  single  mode  of  extracting  manure  from 
the  atmosphere  by   vegetables,   and   applying 
these  vegetables  to  the  enrichment  of  the  earth 
they  grow  on,  by  inclosing,  to  every  other  mode 
of  manuring  land,  excluding  this.   It  Works  so 
widely,  so  constantly,  and  at  so  small  an  ex- 
pense of  labour,  that  properly  used,  it  ensures 
an  annual  improvement  ',  and  a  constant  pro- 
gross  towards  fertility,   however   slow,  must 
terminate  at  it.    Human  life  is  said  to  be  short, 
compared  with  what  we  know   and  conjecture 
of  time.    -Within    one  fourth  of  one  of  these 
short  cycles,  I  have  known  a  fourfold  increase 
of  product  from  the    same    fields,  produced 
chiefly   by  the  inclosing  mode  of  manuring. 
Wilhoiit  however  insisting  on  Us  title  to  pre- 
eminence, it  surely  deserves  to  be  considered 
as  a  powerful  auxiliary  of  the  valuable  modes 
of  manuring  land,  recently  treated  of* 


MANURING.  107 

To  make  room  for  lliis  invaluable  article  in 
a  system  for  improving  our  country,  it  is  ne- 
cessary to  explode  and  banish  a  scheme  of  til- 
lage, founded  in  the  massacre  of  the  earth,  and 
terminating  in  its  murder.  It  is  called  the 
three  shift  system.  Its  course  is,  Indian  corn, 
wheat,  pasture.  Under  it,  the  great  body  of 
the  farm  receives  no  manure,  and  no  rest ;  and 
the  result  is,  that  the  phrase  "  the  land  is 
killed  and  must  be  turned  out,"  has  become 
common  over  a  great  portion  of  the  United 
States.  This  system,  the  most  execrable 
within  the  scope  of  imagination,  under  which 
the  richest  country  upon  earth  could  not  live  ; 
being  called  an  improved  mode  of  agriculture 
at  its  introduction,  was  blindly  received  under 
that  character,  and  our  eyes  cannot  even  be 
opened  by  the  sound  of  our  own  melancholy 
confessions,  "that  our  lands  are  killed."  As 
a  system  for  extorting  crops  from  the  earth, 
it  is  precisely  similar  to  the  rack  for  extort- 
ing truth  from  the  sufferer;  it  stretches,  tor- 
tures, mangles,  obtains  but  little  of  its  object, 
and  half  or  quite  kills  its  victim. 

The  system  of  inclosing,  to  manure  the  earth 
by  its  own  coat  of  vegetables,  is  at  open  war 
with  this  murdering  three  shift  system,  upon 
the  suppositions,  that  the  matter  of  these  ve- 
getables being  chiefly  extracted  from  the  at- 
mosphere, must  be  some  accession  of  fertility 
to  the  earth,  and  that  any  such  accession  is 
better  than  a  perpetual  exhaustion.  It  will 
probably  be  conceded  by  every  reader,  that 
both  Indian  corn  and  wheat  are  exhausting 
crops;  there  can  of  course  remain  no  doubt, 
but  that  this  system  impoverishes  land  two 
/cars  in  three.     The  only   question  then   is 


103  MAyfRl>"G; 

whether  this  los>  will  be  compensated,  by 
grazing  the  fiejd  bare  during  the  third  year. 
From  whence  is the  recompenee  to  cornel — 
Soft  from  recent  tillage,  and  unprotected  by  a 
strong  sward,  the  land  is  exposed  10  all  the  in- 
jury the  hoof  can  inflict.  Thinly  sprinkled 
with  an  insufficient  food,  the  restlessness  of 
perpetual  hunger  produces  imabating  industry 
in  the  cattle,  to  tread  it  into  a  naked  arena* 
closing  its  pores  like  a  road  against  refresh- 
ments  from  the  atmosphere,  and  exposing  its 
flat  and  naked  surface  to  heat,  an  agent  of eva* 
poration,  able  to  pierce  and  expel  from  stone 
itself.  This  three  shift  system  has  only  one 
merit ;  honesty.  In  theory  it  promises  to  kill 
our  lands  :  in  practice  it  fulfils  its  promise. 

The  inclosing  system  requires  four  shifts,  fa 
succeed  tolerably  well  without  manure,  and 
extremelv  well  with  it.     From  a  Jonsr  course 

*  o 

of  experiments,  my  result  is,  that  a  three  shift 
system  is  far  iuferior  to  fuur  shifts,  without 
grazing  either  :  and  that  one  fourth  of  a  farm, 
properly  managed  in  the  latter  way,  after  ha- 
ving been  worried  by  the  old  rotation  of  corn, 
wheat  and  grazing,  may  in  fifteen  years  be 
made  to  produce  more  than  the  whole  would 
previously  do.  I  have  kept  a  farm  in  three 
and  in  four  shifts  for  years,  and  the  result  is 
extremely  in  favor  of  the  latter,  though  it* 
land  was  at  first  of  iuferior  quality.  To  this 
article  for  manuring  our  lands,  objections  are 
made,  among  which,  the  want  of  pasturage, 
and  the  want  of  space  for  our  labor,  should  we 
reduce  the  size  of  our  field*,  are  the  most  se- 
rious. Answers  to  these  objections,  will  be 
more  apposite  in  considering  the  subjects  of 
stock?,  pasturage  and  labor,  should  these  es- 
*a^ re  ever  get  so  far,  than  in  the  midst  of  our 


present  subject.  That  is  manuring,  and  the 
object  oi*  this  paper,  is  to  confront  the  inclosing 
four  shift  system,  with  the  grazing  three  shift 
system,  as  modes  of  manuring  or  improving 
land. 

To  illustrate  the  theory  "  that  vegetables 
extract  their  matter  chiefly  from  the  atmos- 
phere, and  are  of  course  a  powerful  vehicle  for 
iixiug  and  bestowing  atmospherical  manure  on 
the  earth,"  the  following  fact  is  circumstanti- 
ally related,  on  account  of  its  complete  appli- 
<  ation,  and  to  expose  it  to  investigation.  Some 
years  ago,  a  locust  tree  at  Col.  Larkin  Smith's 
in  the  county  of  King  and  Queen  and  state  of 
Virginia,  received  an  injury  which  made  it  ne- 
cessary to  cut  away  entirely  the  bark  around 
its  body  for  eight  or  ten  inches,  so  that  its 
bark  above  and  below  was  wholly  separat- 
ed, without  a  cortical  vein  between.  The 
wound  was  entirely  covered  with  a  close  ban- 
dage of  some  other  bark  which  lapped  beyond 
the  edges  of  the  wounded  bark  above  and  be- 
low. And  the  tree  was  left  to  its  fate.  The 
plaster  bark  never  grew  to  the  tree,  but  the  ed- 
ges of  the  wounded  bark,  gradually  approach- 
ed each  other  under  its  shelter,  and  after  se- 
veral years  met  and  united.  By  the  time  the 
wound-was  healed,  the  body  of  the  tree  above, 
had  become  one  third  larger  than  its  body  be- 
low it.  And  though  several  years  have-  elaps- 
ed, the  latter  has  not  yet  been  able  to  overtake 
the  former.  The  upper  part  of  the  tree,  root- 
ed in  the  air,  vastly  outgrew  the  under  rooted 
in  the  earth.  Therefore  it  must  have  drawn 
either  its  whole  or  chief  sustenance  from  the 
atmosphere.  Indeed  between  the  bark  and  ^ic 
wood  of  most  trees,  aud  of  the  locust  particu- 
o. 


J 10  MIBtjIWIi 

Karrj,  we  find  the  chief  channel  of  their  juices  ; 
*nd  ihe  communication  of  these  juice?  was  ut- 
terly cut  off.  so  that  neither  portion  of  the  tree 
toiild  supply  the  oilier.     If  the  part  of  the  tree 
fed   from  the  root?,   extracted  from  the  earth 
the  food,  which   the  earth  had  previously  ex- 
tracted from  the  atmosphere  :  and  if  the  earth 
was  reimbursed  gradually  by  the  atmosphere, 
a  it  lost  in  feeding  this  part  of  the  tree, 
then  even  the  small  acquisition  of  the  tree  he- 
low  the  interdict  to  communication,  as  well  as 
the  great  one  above,   is  to  be  considered  a* 
wholly  obtained    from    the    atmosphere,   and 
mi.iht  on  that  supposition  be  considered  as  pro- 
le evidence  in  favor  of  the  theory,  that  ve- 
getables get  from  the  air  and  giro  to  the  earth. 
But  probable  testimony  is   superfluous,  when 
the  superior  growth  above   so   clearly  evince* 
that  they  do  extract  food  from  the  atmosphere* 
I  might  quote  the  fertile  state   of  new  nn- 
sed  countries ;  their  abatement  in  fertility 
if  grazed,  though  uncleared  :  the  improvement 
ef  worn  out  lands  by  suffering  them  to  grow 
np  in  trees  :    their  greater   improvement   if 
se  trees  are  cut  down  aBd  suffered  to  ret  oa 
the   surface.,   as  farther  proofs  that  the  earth 
not  bear  a  constant  drain  of  "vegetable  mat- 
.  and  lhat  this  matter  in  any  form  enriches 
k.  to   e»iuce  both   the   ruinous  effeets  of  the 
three   shift  system,  and  that  mclosing  i?  the 
remedy  :  but  the  intelligent  reader  will  ad-*  crt 
to  ihe?e  and  many  other  considerations,,  and  I 
nnly  add,  that  the  feet  of  the  earth's  surface 
heir  "  the  A  poshorj  of  its  fertility,  proves  that 
this  fertility  is  owing  to  atmospherical  or  ra- 
gi.  table  matter,  and  alone  determines  the  effi- 
Sai  j  of  the  iiiciosirg  tneoiy. 


MANURING.  ili 


JSOIBER  27. 


MANtRIXG,  CONTINUE.?-' 

though  we  have  past  the  best,  all  the  fe- 
sources  within  our. power  for  manuring  land, 
are  not  exhausted.  'Whether  gypsum  is  a  ma- 
nure, or  a  medium  for  drawing  manure  from 
the  atmosphere  by  increasing  the  growth  of 
vegetables,  is  an  unimportant  enquiry.  With- 
in the  last  ten  years,  1  have  expended  between 
two  and  three  hundred  tons  of  it  in  a  variety 
of  experiments,  which  have  produced  the  eon- 
elusion  that  it  increases  very  considerably  the 
product  of  vegetable  matter  in  almost  all  forms. 
Now  if  most  or  all  of  the  matter  of  vegetables, 
is  drawn  from  the  atmosphere,  and  it'  gypsum 
increases  these  drafts,  we  have  only  to  realise 
this  unexpected  treasure,  by  turning  it  into 
the  earth.  It  increases  like  compound  inter- 
est, and  in  a  few  years,  land  worth  only  one 
pound  an  acre,  will  become  worth  five.  Thus 
by  the  help  of  enclosing,  gypsum  and  vegeta- 
bles, we  may  enable  ourselves  to  fix,  survey, 
divide,  sell  or  bestow  on  our  children,  atmos- 
phere to  a  great  value.  Let  us  therefore  at 
least  admit  it  into  the  catalogue  of  manures, 
when  used  in  combination  with  inclosing. 

It  would  be  tedious  to  recite  a  multitude  of 
experiments  in  the  rapid  excursions  of  an  es- 
sayist, through  the  agricultural  kingdom^witb. 
very  little  regard  to  method  ;  and  therefore  I 
shall  only  trouble  the  public  with  the  results 
deemed  most  useful.  Except  when  sown  m 
clover  whieh  it  l>enefits  almost  at  all  seasons, 
1  Lave  found  gvpsum  succeed  best  when  cover- 


,11^  MASTRIXG. 

esl.  I  would  even  prefer  harrowing  it  in  witli 
oats  and  clover,  to  sowing  it  on  the  surface  af- 
ter they  are  up.  The  best  modes  of  using  it, 
according  to  my  experience,  are  sowing  it  on 
and  ploughing  ir  in  with  eoarse  litter  :  sowing 
it  just  in  advance  of  the  plough,  when  fallow- 
ing for  corn,  on  land  well  covered  with  vege- 
table matter  from  having  been  iac-losed,  so  as 
to  bury  it  with  the  Htter;  this  is  in  fact  the 
same  experiment  with  the  last,  except  that  the 
gypsum  has  less  vegetable  manure  to  work  up- 
on in  the  second  than  in  the  hr«t  ease:  be- 
stowing on  clover  annually  a  top  dressing,  giv- 
ing the  preference  to  the  youngest  if  there 
should  be  a  deficiency  of  the  gypsum  :  and 
rolling  both  wheat  and  corn  with  it.  when 
sown  or  planted,  bushel  to  bushel.  This  has 
been  the  sealed  course  of  a  farm  for  three  or 
four  years,  and  within  no  equal  term  has  it 
equally  improved.  The  wheat  crop  is  h  ss  be- 
nefltted  immediately  than  any  other,  bnt  this, 
rolling  of  the  wheat  facilitates  tli  tion 

ef  the  clover  sown  on  h-  snrfaee  in  the  spring, 
and  strengthens  it  agaiust  summer  drought, 
so  frequently  fatal  to  kin  eoarse  «;>ils:  and 
by  thus  improving  the  fertility  of  ihe  land, 
considerably  augmeut  s  succeeding  crops.  In- 
tervals of  twelve  yards  wide,  quite  across  large 
fields,,  sown  with  unplastered  wheat,  whilst  the 
rest  was  plastered  bj  mingling  a  bushel  of  one* 
with  a  bushel  of  the  other,  exhibited  to  a  line 
on  each  side  by  the  natural  growth,  an  inferi- 
ority of  strength  from  the  cutting  of  the  wheat, 
throughout  the  whole  period  of  re-t. 

The  immediate  benefit  of -gypsum  to  Indian 
corn,  is  vastly  greater  than  to  any  other  crop, 
clover  excepted,  whilst  its  benefit  «o  the  land 
is  equally  ~reat.     I.  n plastered   spaces  Wl 
oross  large  fields  of  clover,  have  in  sundry  iu- 


MANX  RING.  IIS 

stances  produced  a  third  or  a  fourth  only  of 
the  adjoining  plastered  clover.  Unplastered 
spaces  across  large  fields  of  corn,  have  been 
frequently  visible  during  the  whole  crop,  pro- 
ducing not  an  equal  but  a  considerable  differ- 
ence. Gypsum,  clover,  and  inclosing,  work- 
ing in  conjunction,  have  within  my  own  know- 
ledge doubled,  trebled,  and  in  a  very  favorable 
soil  quadrupled  the  value  of  land,  in  the  space 
of  twelve  or  fifteen  vears;  whilst  the  land  regu- 
larly  produced  two  exhausting  crops,  those  of 
corn  and  wheat  in  every  four  years  of  the  period 
and  these  crops  were  continually  increasing. 

Of  lime  and  marie  we  have  an  abundance, 
but  experience  does  not  entitle  me  to  say  any 
thing  of  either.  About  a  family,  a  variety  of 
manures  may  be  thrown  together,  and  form  a 
small  store  for  gardens  and  lots.  Among  these 
ashes  deserve  particular  attention.  Like  other 
manures  they  suffe?  by  exposure  and  evapora- 
tion, but  less,  because  water  is  a  menstruum 
which  will  convey  much  of  their  salts  into  the 
earth,  if  they  are  spread  ;  the  same  menstru- 
um conveys  most  of  these  salts  out  of  the  ashes?, 
if  they  are  opposed  to  it  before  they  are  appli- 
ed as  a  manure.  Hence  when  ashes  have  not 
been  reduced  by  water  in  richness,  they  arc  t« 
be  used  as  a  manure  more  sparingly,  and  when 
they  have,  more  copiously.  In  their  unreduc* 
ed  slate,  just  from  the  chimney,  when  sprin- 
kle;! an  in  h  thick  on  the  long  litter  and  dung 
from  a  re  sentry;  cleansed  stable,  they  consti- 
tute the  be  ?!  manure  1  have  ever  tried  for  as- 
paragus. »  beds  are  well  forked  up  in  the 
fall,  covered  two  or  three  inches  deep  with  the 
un rotted  stable  manure,  on  which  the  fresh 
ashes  are  placed,  and  so  remain  until  they  ar« 
thrown  into  proper  order  in  the  spring. 
[Note  C.J 


iiik  £A*OCB» 


XUMBER  2*. 


la: 

Perhaps  this  subject  ought  to  Lave  preceded 
that  of  manuring,  a?  it  is  idle  even  to  think  of 
a  good  system  of  agriculture  in  anv  point  of 
▼lew,  if  the  labor  on  which  it  depends  is  con- 
vulsed by  infusions  the  most  inimical  to  its  uti- 
lity :  and  if  (hose  who  direct  it.  are  to  live  in  a 
eonstant  dread  of  its  loss,  and  a  doubt  of  their 
own  safety.  Such  a  state  of  uncertainty  is 
painful  to  the  parties,  unfriendly  to  improve- 
ment, and  productive  of  extravagance  and  idle- 
ness in  all  their  varieties.  Yet  those  who  keep 
it  alive,  persuade  themselves  that  they  are 
complying  with  the  principles  of  religion,  pa- 
triotism and  morality.  Into  such  fatal  errors 
is  human  nature  liable  to  fall,  by  its  deliriums 
for  acquiring  unattainable  perfection. 

One  would  think  that  the  circles  of  ethieks 
and  logick  could  not  furnish  less  doubtful  ques- 
tions than  these.  "Were  the  whites  of  St.  Do- 
mingo morally  bound  to  bring  on  themselves 
the  massacre  produced  by  the  liberation  of 
their  slaves  ?  Is  such  a  sacrifice  of  freemen 
to  make  freemen  of  slaves,  virt»;o'i%  or  wicked  I 
"Will  it  advance  i  r  destroy  flu  principles  of 
morality,  religion  and  civil  libt  ty  :  Is  it  wi^e 
or  foolish  : 

The  history  of  parties  in  its  utmost  malig- 
nity is  but  a  feint  mirror  for  reflecting  the 
consequences  of  a  white  and  a  black  party.  If 
badges  and  names  have  been  able  to  madden 


men  in  all  ages,  up  to  robbery  and  murder  in 
their  most  atrocious  forms,  no  doubt  can  exist 
of  the  consequences  of  placing;  two  nations  of 
distinct  colours  and  features  on  the  same  thea- 
tre, to  contend,  not  about  sounds  and  signs,  but 
for  wealth  and  power. 

And  yet  an  amiable  and  peaceable  religious 
sect,  have  been  Jong  laboring  with  some  suc- 
cess, to  plunge  three  fourths  of  the  union,  into 
a  civil  war  of  a  complexion  so  inveterate,  as  to 
auii.it  of  no  issue*  but  the  extermination  of  one 
entire  party.   Suppose  the  extermination  shall 
fall  on  the    blacks,  the  ferocity  acquired  by 
the  whites  during  the  eotv.est,  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  labour  in  three  fourths  of  the  union, 
will  not  endow  the   remaining  fourth  with 
wealth  or  happiness,     lt'tlie  whites  should  be 
the  victims  oi  this  enthusiastic  philanthropy, 
and  our  northern  brethren  should  succeed  in 
overwhelming  the   southern   states  with   the 
negro  patriotism  and  civilization,  what  will 
they  have  done  for  the  benefit  of  the  liberty, 
virtue  or  happiness  of  mankind  ?  The  French 
revolution  bottomed  upon  as  correct  abstract 
principles  and  sounder  practical  hopes,  turn- 
ed out  to  be  a  foolish  and  mischievous  specu- 
lation ;  what  then  can  be  expected  from  ma- 
king republicans  of  negro  slaves,  and  conquer- 
ors of  ignorant  infuriated  barbarians  ?     What 
can  those  who  are  doiug  the   greatest  mis- 
chiefs from  the  best  motives,  to  their  fellow- 
citizens,  to  themselves  and  to   their  country, 
expect  from  such  preachers    of  the  gospel, 
such  champions  of  liberty,  and    such  neigh- 
bouring possessors  of  a  territory  larger  than 
their  own. 

But.  what  will  not.  enthusiasm  aUempt  ?  It 
attempted  to  make  freemen  of  the  peopLc  oV 


ittt  -LABOUR. 

France  :  the  experiment  pronounced  that  they 
jvere  incapable  of  liberty.  It  attempted  to 
«ompound  a  free  nation  of  black  and  white 
people  in  St.  Domingo.  The  experiment  pro- 
nounced that  one  color  must  peris.li.  Aud  now 
rendered  blinder  by  experience,  it  proposes  to 
renew  the  last  experiment,  though  it  impress- 
ed truth  bv  sanctions  of  inconceivable  horror ; 
and  again  to  create  a  body  politick,  as  mon- 
strous and  unnatural  as  a  mongrel  half  white 
man  and  half  negro. 

Do  these  hasty,  or  in  the  language  of  exact 
truth,  fanatic  philosophers,  patriots  or  chisti- 
ans,  suppose  that  the  negroes  could  be  made 
free,  and  yet  kept  from  property  and  equal  ci- 
Til  rights  ,•  or  that  both  or  either  of  these  ave- 
nues to  power  could  be  opened  to  them,  aud  yet 
tbat  some  precept  or  incantation  could  prevent 
their  entrance  ?  As  rivals  for  rule  with  the 
Whites,  the  collision  would  be  immediate,  and 
the  catastrophe  speedy.  Divest pd  of  equal  ci- 
vil rights  and  wealth  to  prevent  this  rivalship, 
frut  endowed  with  personal  liberty,  they  would 
constitute  the  most  complete  instrument  for 
invasion  or  ambition,  hitherto  forged  through- 
out the  entire  circle  of  human  folly. 

For  what  virtuous  purpose  are  the  southern 
runaway  negroes  countenanced  in  the  Nor- 
thern States  ?  Do  these  states  wish  the  Sou- 
thern to  try  the  St.  Domingo  experiment  ?  If 
not,  why  do  they  keep  alive  the  St.  Domingo 
spirit  ?  War  is  the  match  which  will  in  the 
course  of  time  be  put  to  such  a  spirit,  and  an 
explosion  might  follow,  which  would  shake 
our  nation  from  the  centre  to  its  extremities. 
Is  it  humanity,  wisdom  or  religion,  or  some 
adversary  of  all  three,  which  prepares  the 
slock  of  combustibles  for  this  explosion  2 


LABOUR.  117 

Suppose  France  was  about  to  invade  the 
United  States,  and  should  ask  Congress  previ- 
ously to  admit  a  million  of  her  most  desperate 
people  into  the  Southern  states,  ready  to  join 
and  aid  her  armies  ;  could  the  northern  mem- 
bers of  the  union  find  any  motive  drawn  from  po- 
licy, religion,  morality  or  self  interest,  for  a- 
greeingto  the  proposal  ?  And  yet  in  case  of  such 
an  invasion,  a  million  of  negroes,  either  slaves, 
but  artificially  filled  with  a  violent  impatience 
of  their  condition,  and  deadly  hatred  of  their 
masters  ;  or  free-men,  but  excluded  from 
wealth  and  power,  would  hardly  be  less  fero- 
cious, merciless  or  dangerous,  than  a  million  of 
desperate  French  people. 

A  policy  which  weakens  or  renders  incapa- 
ble of  self-defence  at  least  three-fourths  of  the 
union,  must  also  be  excessively  injurious  to  the 
remaining  fourth,  whose  wealth  and  security 
must  increase  or  diminish  by  increasing  or  di- 
minishing the  wealth  and  security  of  the  lar- 
ger portion.  Nor  does  the  least  present  gain, 
afford  to  the  northern  6tates  a  temptation  for 
incurring  so  dreadful  an  evil.  Their  manners 
will  neither  be  improved,  nor  their  happiness 
advaneed,by  sprinkling  their  cities  with  a  year- 
ly emigration  of  thieves,  murderers  and  vil- 
lains of  every  degree,  though  recommended  by 
the  training  of  slavery,  a  black  skin,  a  woolly 
body,  and  an  African  contour. 

And  yet  even  tho  Northern  newspapers  are 
continually  dealing  out  fraternity  to  this  race, 
and  to  this  moral  character,  and  opprobrium  te 
their  white  masters,  with  as  little  justice  in 
the  last  case,  as  taste  in  the  first.  What  had 
the  present  generation  to  do  with  the  dilemma 
in  which  it  is  involved  ?  How  few  even  of  its 
ancestors  were  concerned  in  stealing  and  tranv 
11. 


118  £.abot:b, 

porting  negroes  from  Africa  ?  If  some  rem- 
nant; of  such  monsters  exist,  they  are  not  to 
be  found  in  the  Southern  quarters  of  the  uni- 
on.    And  if  self  preservation  shall  force  the 
slave  holders  into  stricter  measures  of  precau- 
tion than    they  have   hitherto  adopted,   those 
who  shall  have   driven  them  into  these  mea- 
sure;, by  continually  exciting  their  negroes  to 
cut  their  Chroatsj  v  ill  accuse  them  of  tyranny 
with  as  little  reason,  as  the  prosecutors  of  the 
slave  trade  accuse  them  of  negro  stealing. 

The  fact  is,  that  negro  slavery  is  an  evil 
which  the  United  State?  must  look  in  the  face. 
To  whim  over  it,  is  cowardly:  to  aggravate 
it,  criminal  ;  and  to  forbear  to  alleviate  it, 
because  it  cannot  be  wholly  cured,  foolish. — 
Reward;  and  punishment;  the  -auctions  of  the 
best  government,  and  the  origin  of  love  and 
fear,  are  rendered  useless  by  the  ideas  excited 
in  the  French  revolution  :  by  the  example  of 
St.  Domingo  :  by  the  lure  of  free  negroes  min- 
gled with  slaves  :  and  by  the  reproaches  to 
masters  and  sympathies  for  slaves,  breathed 
forth  from  the  Northern  states.  Sympathies, 
such  a;  if  the  negroes  should  transfer  their  af- 
fections from  their  own  species  to  the  baboons. 
Under  impression;  derived  from  such  sources, 
thejostest  punishment  v>  ill  befelt  as  the  inilie- 
tien  of  tyranny,  and  the  mo;t  liberal  rewards, 
as  a  niggardly  portion  of  greater  rights.  For 
where  will  the  rights  of  black  sansculottes  stop? 

Such  a  state  of  things  is  themo-t  unfavorable 
imaginable  to  the  happiness  of  both  master  and 
slave.  It  tends  to  diminish  the  humanity  of 
one  class,  and  increase  the  malignity  of  the 
other,  and  in  contemplating  its  utter  destituti- 
on of  good,  our  admiration  is  equally  excited, 
by  t  he  error  of  those  who  produce,  and  the 
ibllv  of  those  who  suffer  it. 


"LABOUR.  lid 


NUMBER  29. 


LABOUR,   CONTINUED. 

Slaves  are  docile,  useful  and  happy,  if  they 
are  well  managed  ;  and  if  their  docility,  utility 
and  happiness  are  not  obstructed  hy  the  cir- 
cumstances adverted  to  in  the  last  number. — 
Knowledge  manages  ignorance  with  great easej 
whenever  ignorance  is  not  used  as  an  instru- 
ment by  knowledge  against  itself.  But  our 
religious  and  philosophical  quixottes  have  un- 
dertaken to  make  ignorance  independent  of 
knowledge.  They  propose  to  bestow  a  capaci- 
ty for  liberty  and  rule  on  an  extreme  degree  of 
ignorance,  when  the  whole  history  of  mankind 
announces,  that  far  less  degrees  possess  no 
such  capacity.  One  would  suspect,  except  for 
the  integrity  of  these  divines  and  philosophers, 
that  they  were  impostors  disguised  in  the  garb 
of  religion  and  philosophy,  striving  to  disen- 
gage a  mass  of  ignorance  from  those  who  now 
direct  it,  for  the  purpose  of  appropriating  it  to 
themselves.  Free  it  cannot  be.  It  must  be- 
come the  slave  of  superstition,  cunning  or  am- 
bition, in  some  form.  And  what  is  still  worse, 
when  thrown  upon  the  great  national  theatre 
to  be  scrambled  for,  that  iuterest  which  shall 
gain  the  prize,  will  use  it  to  oppress  other 
branches  of  knowledge.  In  its  hands  the 
blacks  will  be  more  enslaved  than  they  are  at 
present ;  and  the  whites,  in  pursuit  of  an  ideal 
freedom  for  them,  will  create  some  vortex  for 
ingulphing  the  remnant  of  liberty  left  in  the 
world,  and  obtain  re*d  slavery  for  themselves. 


420  JABOTTB. 

Under  their  present  m2?tcvs.  ^ie  negroes 
would  enjoy  more  happiness,  and  e Ten  niore  li- 
berty, than  under  a  conqueror  or  a  hierarchy* 
Slavery  to  an  individual  is  preferable  to  slavO 
ry  to  an  interest  or  faction.  The  individual  is 
restrained  by  his  property  in  the  slave,  and 
susceptible  of  humanity.  An  interest  or  fac- 
tion is  incapable  of  both.  Did  a  hierarchy  or 
a  paper  system  ever  shed  tears  over  its  oppres- 
sions, or  feel  compunction  for  its  exactions  ? 
On  the  contrary,  joy  swells  with  the  fruit  of 
guilt ',  and  the  very  conscience,  which  abhors 
the  secret  guillotine,  used  to  cut  out  a  neigh- 
bour's nurse,  &  to  transfer  it  to  its  own  pocket, 
without  difficulty  retains  the  contents.  Thu§ 
men  imagine  that  they  have  discovered  a  way 
to  elude  the  justice  of  God,  whose  denunciati- 
ons have  overlooked  chartered  corporations, 
and  are  only  levelled  against  individuals.— 
The  crime,  they  suppose,  is  committed  by  a 
body  politick,  and  scripture  having  exhibited 
no  instance  of  one  of  these  artificial  bodies  be- 
ing consigned  to  the  region  of  punisbment,  their 
oppressions,  however  atrocious,  are  considered 
as  a  casus  omissus,  and  as  aiTording  a  mode  for 
fattening  the  body  with  crimes  and  frauds, 
without  hurting  the  soul. 

It  is  otherwise  with  the  personal  owner  of 
slaves.  Religion  assails  him  both  with  her 
blandishments  and  terrors.  It  indissolubly 
binds  his,  and  his  slave's  happiness  or  misery 
together.  These  associates  he  cannot  disse- 
ver ;  he  chooses  the  alternative  indeed  for  both, 
but  he  must  choose  the  same. 

If  an  inl  erest  or  a  combination  of  men  is  the 
worst  species  of  master,  and  if  this  black  mass 
of  ignorance,  turned  at  large  and  defined  by  the 
plainest  marks,  must  naturally  fall  under  the 


lAROrKv  12* 

clSniinion  of  some  interest  or  combination,  tbe 
miseries  inflicted  both  on  their  owners  and 
themselves,  bj  the  perpetual  excitements  to 
insurrection,  and  those  to  be  expected  from  the 
experiment  whenever  it  is  made,  are  attended 
with  no  compensating  counterpoise  whatsoever 
to  either  of  the  parties,  even  in  hope.  Should 
these  fruitless  attempts  be  forborne,  and  should 
the  slave  states  take  measures  for  abolishing 
these  excitements  to  general  disquietude  and 
calamity,  some  system  for  the  management  of 
slaves  beneficial  to  themselves  and  their  own- 
ers, is  so  closely  connected  with  agriculture, 
that  the  next  number  will  be  devoted  t©  that 
subject. 


12&  1AB0UE. 


NUMBER  SQ. 


LABOUR,  CONTINUED. 

Animal  labor  is  brought  to  its  utmost  value, 
by  being  completely  supplied  with  the  neces- 
saries and  comforts  required  by  its  nature.— 
These  comforts  have  more  force  to  attach  the 
reasonable  than  the  brute  creation  to  a  place, 
and  yet  the  attachments  of  the  latter  from  this 
cause,  are  often  strong.  The  addition  of  com- 
fort to  mere  necessaries,  is  a  price  paid  by  the 
master,  for  the  advantages  he  will  derive  from 
binding  his  slave  to  his  service,  by  a  ligament 
stronger  than  chains,  far  beneath  their  value 
in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view ;  and  he  will 
^moreover  gain  a  stream  of  agreeable  reflects 
•ns  throughout  life,  which  will  cost  him  no- 
thing. 

A  projeet  towards  an  object  so  desirable, 
may  possibly  contain  a  hint  which  some  one 
will  improve.  Let  the  houses  of  the  slaves  be 
of  brick  walls,  able  to  withstand  hard  usage 
and  remain  tight,  built  in  one  connected  line, 
with  partitions,  making  each  a  room  sixteen 
©r  eighteen  feet  square ;  let  there  be  a  brick 
chimney  in  the  centre  between  each  two  rooms 
affording  a  fire  place  to  each,  and  two  warm 
chasms,  one  on  each  side  of  the  fire  place  for 
beds.  A  square  window  with  a  wooden  shut- 
ter to  be  opposite  the  door  of  each  room,  and 
three  panes  of  glass  above  each  door.  No 
joists  or  loft,  but  to  be  lathed  on  the  rafters 
sad  their  couplings,  nearly  to  the  top  of  the 
roof,  and  the  whole  inside  to  be  plastered.— 


LABOTTli.  12$ 

Henee,  though  the  house  should  be  low,  the 
pitch  of  the  rooms  will  be  high  ;  and  salubrity 
av ill  be  consulted  with  a  precaution  against 
fire,  amounting  to  a  certainty  within  the  house* 
as  there  will  he  no  insula  fuel,  the  floor  being 
of  eartb.  The  roof  will  be  a  mere  shell  plas- 
tered within,  and  if  the  cbimnies  are  suffici- 
ently high,  the  absence  of  interior  combusti- 
bles, combined  with  the  lowness  of  the  house, 
will  form  a  great  security  against  fire,  so  fre- 
quently fatal  to  the  houses  of  slaves,  and  some- 
times to  the  inhabitants. 

A  regular  supply  of  a  winter's  coat,  jacket * 
and  breeches,  with  the  latter  and  the  sleeves 
of  the  former  lined,  two  oznaburg  shirts,  a 
good  hat  and  blanket  every  other  year,  two 
pair  of  stockings  annually,  a  pair  of  shees,  a 
pair  of  summer  overalls,  and  a  great  coat  eve- 
ry third  year,  will  constitute  a  warm  clothing 
for  careful  slaves,  and  the  acquisitions  they 
make  from  their  usual  permissions,  will  sup- 
ply them  with  finery. 

The  best  source  for  securing  their  happiness, 
their  honesty  and  their  usefulness,  is  their 
food  ;  &  yet  it  is  seldom  considered  as  a  means 
for  advancing  either.  If  the  happiness  of  an 
Idle  epicure  is  deeply  affected  by  food,  what 
must  be  its  influence  upon  labor  and  hunger? 
In  the  article  of  food,  the  force  of  rewards  and 
punishments  may  be  happily  combined  to  unite 
the  whole  body  of  slaves  into  conservators,  in- 
stead of  being  pilferers  of  the  moveables  on  a 
farm.  It  may  be  made  both  a  ligament  to  tie 
the  slave  to  its  service,  and  enable  him  to  per- 
form that  service  better.  A  scheme  for  pro- 
ducing these  ends  has  been  found  so  successful 
in  practice,  and  coincides  so  intirely  with  the 
subject  of  agriculture  by  slaves,  that  it  i»  «h©~ 


sen  to  terminate  this  subject  Bread  alone, 
ought  never  to  be  considered  as  a  sufficient 
diet  for  slaves,  except  as  a  punishment ;  and 
at  one  meal  each  day  they  should  have  salt 
meat,  boiled  into  a  soup  with  peas,  beans,  po- 
tatoes, turnips,  cabbages,  crmblins  or  pump- 
kins. At  other  meals  salt  fish,  milk  or  butter 
milk.  Vegetables  are  raised  in  great  abun- 
dance at  little  expenee,  and  at  all  seasons  a 
supply  of  some  species  should  be  allowed  to 
the  slaves  without  stint.  We  shall  be  asto- 
nished upon  trial  to  discover  that  this  great 
comfort  to  them,  is  a  profit  to  the  master,  in 
its  single  effect  of  contributing  to  their  health, 
without  estimating  the  benefits  arising  from 
a  cheerful  acquiesence  in  their  condition.  One 
great  value  of  establishing  a  comfortable  diet 
for  slaves,  is  its  convenience  as  au  instrument 
of  reward  and  punishment,  so  powerful  as  al- 
inostto  abolish  the  thefts, which  often  diminish. 
considerably  the  owner's  ability  to  provide  for 
them.  These  can  seldom  or  never  be  commit- 
ted without  being  known  to  the  other  slaves, 
but  they  are  under  no  interest  to  restrain 
them.  It  is  ihe  interest  of  all  to  steal  by 
which  they  occasionally  get  some  addition  to 
bread,  if  this  addition  cannot  be  procured  by 
honesty.  But  if  thefts  are  punished  by  pla- 
cing the  whole  on  that  diet,  all  will  have  an  in- 
terest to  prevent  and  forbear  theft,  provided  a 
diet  much  more  comfortable  is  thereby  secur- 
ed. Nor  is  involving  all  in  the  punishment  a 
hardship,  because  all  share  in  the  benefit, 
which  nothing  but  this  system  for  preventing 
the  waste  of  theft  can  produce  ;  and  because  a 
knowledge  of  the  criminal  is  usually  general. 
It  is  this  unavoidable  knowledge,  which  makes 
the  innocent  comrades,  who  will  not  surrender 


LABOtTR,  125 

their  own  daily  comforts,  that  another  may 
occasionally  steal  luxuries,  a  solid  check  upon 
theft.    The   hetter  the  diet  of  negroes,  the 

more  effectual  will  such  a  system  become 

It  should  be  executed  rigidly,  so  as  to  produce 
2  less  of  food  additional  to  bread,  of  double  va- 
lue to  the  thing  stolen,  except  the  guilty  person 
is  detected,  who  ought  in  that  ease  to  sustain 
the  whole  punishment,  which  must  either  be 
corporal,  or  a  sale  to  some  distant  place.  The 
latter,  combined  with  the  enjoyments  provided 
for  slaves  by  this  system,  will  soon  become  an 
object  of  terror ;  and  as  many  buyers  care  lit- 
tle Tor  uwVnl  character?  it  is  unexceptionable, 
provided  the  seller  states  it  fairly  and  records 
it  in  the  bill  of  sale,  as  he  ought  to  do,  for  his 
own  honor  and  security. 

A  daily  allowance  of  cyder  will  extend  the 
success  of  this  system  for  the  management  of 
slaves,  and  particularly  its  effect  of  diminish- 
ing corporal  punishments.  But  the  reader  is 
warned,  that  a  stern  authority,  strict  disci- 
pline and  complete  subordination,  must  be 
combined  vith  it,  to  gain  any  success  at  all  j 
and  that  so  long  as  white  soldiers  cannot  be 
kept  in  order,  or  rendered  useful,  without  all 
three,  he  is  not  to  expect  that  blark  slaves  can 
without  either  ;  nor  that  those  can  be  govern- 
ed by  the  finest  threads  of  the  human  hearty 
who  possess  only  the  coarsest. 


128  LABOUR. 


NTMBER  31. 


LABCVR,  COXTXKUE0. 

Those  tied  by  habit  to  the  rotation  of  eonu 
Wheat  and  pasture,  or  the  three  shift  system, 
object  to  the  enclosing  and  four  shift  system, 
**  that  having  labour  adequate  to  the  tilling  one 
third  of  their  arable  land,  a  portion  of  it  would 
be  unemployed,  by  restricting  this  labour  10  the 
eultivation  of  a  fourth  only."  The  rotation 
of  corn,  wheat  and  clover  for  two  years,  with- 
out being  cut  or  grazed,  need  only  be  confront- 
ed with  its  rival  course,  to  satisfy  the  reader,, 
that  under  the  latter  system,  the  fourth  will 
soon  overtake  the  third  in  product,  and  at 
length  infinitely  exceed  it.  The  profit  of  ma- 
king greater  crops  from  less  land  is  visible  at 
once.  The  same  crop  from  a  fourth  may  pro- 
duce profit,  and  yet  a  loss  from  a  third.  If 
120  acres  of  poor  land  produce  120  barrels  of 
corn,  and  the  expences  of  cultivation  amount 
to  a  barrel  an  acre,  there  is  no  profit  :  but  if 
90  acres  of  the  same  land  are  improved  by  in- 
closing, so  as  to  produce  120  barrels,  there  will 
be  a  profit  of  30  barrels.  This  principle 
equally  applies  to  every  case  of  an  existing 
profit  under  the  three  shift  system,  because* 
whatever  it  may  be,  it  is  greatly  increased  by 
obtaining  an  equal  crop  by  cultivating  lt?s  land. 

The  error  of  making  the  mode  of  cultivation 
subservient  to  fluctuating  labour,  instead  of  a- 
^apf  ing  the  labour  to  permanent  land,  however 
egregious,  cannot  properly  be  termed  vul- 
var, because  it  is  common  to  men  of  the  b 


IABODB.  127 

as  well  as  to  those  of  the  meanest  understand- 
ings. However  glaring  it  is,  it  really  consti- 
tutes the  most  stubborn  argument  in  favor  of 
using  labour  to  kill  ratherthun  to  improve  land; 
and  though  some  readers  may  think  it  idle  to 
controvert  a  mistake,  apparently  not  within 
the  scope  of  human  weakness  to  commit,  the 
greater  number,  will  I  fear,  consider  the  ap- 
plication of  labor  to  the  improvement,  rather 
than  to  the  impoverishment  of  land,  as  far 
more  ridiculous.  The  collision  between  these 
opinions,  will  excuse  the  matter  of  this  num- 
ber, though  it  may  seem  trite  to  some  and  vi- 
sionary to  others. 

An  application  of  labour  to  land,  which  daily 
diminishes  the  fertility  of  the  land,  considered 
in  a  national  light,  is  obviously  a  national  evil  ; 
and  a  habit  from  Which  such  boundless  or 
wide  ruin  and  depopulation  must  ensue,  sup- 
posing it  to  he  general,  seems  incapable  of*  de- 
serving the  approbation  of  virtue,  or  the  con- 
currence of  sclJishness.  If  the  employment  of 
labour  in  the  course  of  corn,  wheat  and  pas- 
ture, produces  a  regular  impoverishment  of 
the  soil,  the  practice  falls  within  the  scope  of 
this  observation. 

It  is  equally  at  enmity  with  the  purest  dc<- 
votion  of  self-interest,  which  ever  chilled  the 
human  heart.  This  devotion  pants  for  com- 
pound or  increasing  not  for  decreasing  interest; 
and  beholds  with  horror  a  diminution  of  princi- 
pal. Our  three  shift  system  gradually  de- 
stroys the  principal,  land,  and  gradually  dimi- 
nishes the  interest  crop.  If  the  labour  increa- 
ses as  in  the  case  of  slaves,  the  effect  is  not  t© 
enrich,  but  to  impoverish  the  owner. 

Flight  is  his  resource  against  the  poverty  he 
derives  from  the  increase  of  his  slaves,    If 


128  JABors, 

the  application  of  labour  to  the  impoverish- 
ment of  land,  was  universal,  an  emigration  to 
another  world,  would  be  the  only  remedy  ;  if 
national,  it  must  amount  to  an  abjuration  of 
our  country  and  form  of  government  ;  if  state, 
to  a  banishment  from  our  native  soil  and  rela- 
tions. But  this  miserable  remedy  itself  will 
ere  long  be  exhausted,  and  after  an  internal 
struggle  for  the  best  birth  in  a  bed  of  thorns, 
the  discovery  will  be  made,  that  an  endeavor  ia 
each  to  feather  his  own  nest,  is  the  only  way 
to  procure  comfort  for  all ;  and  that  the  pros- 
perity of  the  nation  and  the  happiness  of  indi- 
viduals, depend  on  the  improvement  of  land  by 
a  proper  application  of  labour. 

But  what  shall  we  do  with  our  surplus  labour 
is  repeated,  if  we  cease  to  employ  it  in  killing 
land  ?  One  would  think  that  this  doubt  eo's!4 
never  be  entertained,  except  by  a  fatalist,  who 
believed  that  such  was  the  end  for  which  labour 
was  created.  The  effects  of  labour  are  the 
same  in  agriculture  as  in  architecture  ;  fav 
more  is  necessary  to  build  than  to  destroy ; 
shall  we  thence  also  infer,  that  labor  is  destin- 
ed to  destroy  houses  ?  Where  is  the  difference 
between  destroying  houses  and  destroying  the 
means  by  which  houses  are  rendered  comfort- 
able ?  The  early  Kentucky  settlers  contended, 
that  unless  the  sugar  makers  killed  the  sugaF 
trees,  it  threw  a  portion  of  their  labour  out  of 
employment,  and  therefore  inferred,  that  it  was 
one  of  nature's  wise  laws,  that  labour  should 
kill  the  sourees  of  sugar.  Did  they  borrow 
this  opinion  from  our  querist,  who  thinks  it 
wise  and  natural  to  employ  it  in  killing  the 
source  of  bread  ?  If  an  abundance  of  labour 
caused  a  land  killing  agricultural  system,  and 
its  scarcity  the  reverse,  Flanders  should  be  a 


IABOUR.  129 

wilderness  and  Virginia  a  garden.  A  great 
recommendation  of  the  inclosing  and  four  shift 
system,  is  the  saving  of  labour  it  creates  in 
fencing,  and  in  renouncing  the  culture  of  ex- 
hausted lands,  to  be  applied  to  improvement. 
"When  we  come  to  consider  a  project  for  the 
management  of  a  bread  stuff  farm,  we  shall 
discover  full  employment  for  this  surplus  la- 
bour, which  the  three  shift  system  fears  would 
be  idle,  if  not  employed  as  a  land  executioner. 
The  raising  of  manure,  covering  with  clover 
every  spot  of  land  which  will  bear  it,  and  con- 
verting all  moist  land  into  meadow,  would 
alone  be  sponsors  for  the  futility  of  the  appre- 
hension. And  yet  many  other  objects  of  labour 
must  be  combined  with  the  four  shift  and  in- 
closing system,  to  accelerate  and  augment  the 
rewards  it  will  bestow.  Hay  in  abundance 
must  be  made,  crops  will  be  augmented,  modes 
of  tillage  must  be  improved,  transportation 
will  increase  with  litter,  manure  and  crops, 
and  gypsum  if  resorted  to,  is  by  no  means  nig 
gardly  in  providing  employment  for  lab«ur. — 
if  these  observations  have  not  removed  the  ap- 
prehension of  ruin,  seriously  and  generally  en- 
tertained by  the  disciples  of  the  corn,  wheat 
and  pasture  rotation,  should  they  change  the 
application  of  their  labour  from  impoverishing 
to  improving  their  land,  it  will  still  be  remov- 
ed by  their  own  superior  reilections,  if  they  will 
be  pleased  to  reflect.  They  will  certainly  disco- 
ver that  the  danger  of  wanting  employment  for 
their  labour,  lurks,  not  in  improving  but  in 
impoverishing  their  lands,  and  that  whilst  they 
shudder  at  an  apparition,  they  are  embracing 
an  assassin. 


12. 


4£8  4K9IAX  CORN. 


DUMBER  32. 


INDIAN    CORN. 


It  was  very  improbable  that  one  who  has 
often  joined  in  the  execration  of  Indian  corn, 
should  have  been  destined  to  write  its  eulogy. 
Had  we  designed  to  transfer  from  ourselves  to 
an  innocent  plant  the  heavy  charge  of  murder- 
ing our  land,  its  acquittal  before  a  jury  whose 
ow  n  condemnation  would  be  the  consequence, 
could  not  be  expected  ;  but  as  nothing  is  more 
certain  than  that  the  exclamations  against 
corn  and  tobacco  (and  for  the  last  thirty  years 
wheat  ought  to  have  been  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  triumvirate)  for  killing  our  lands,  have 
proceeded  from  conviction,  without  a  suspicion 
that  we  ourselves  were  the  perpetrators  of  the 
act ;  I  shall  venture  to  bring  Indian  corn  to 
trial  before  the  real  criminals,  and  its  mista- 
ken accusers. 

Arthur  Young,  in  his  Travels  through  France 
and  Spain,  observes,  that  the  regions  of  maize 
exhibited  plenty  and  affluence,  compared  with 
those  where  other  crops  were  cultivated.  As 
a  faithful  agricultural  annalist,  he  records  the 
fact  ;  being  but  little  acquainted  with  the 
plant,  he  could  not  satisfactorily  account  for  it. 
Even  a  nation  which  has  lived  with  it,  and  al- 
most upon  it  for  two  hundred  years,  so  far 
from  correctly  estimating  its  value,  have  only 
learnt  to  eat  it,  but  not  to  avail  themselves  of 
half  its  properties.  Those  for  killing  land, 
they  have  turned  to  the  utmost  account ;  those 
for 'improving  it,  they  have  wholly  neglected. 


INDIAN  COhN*  131 

The  first  capacity  is  common  to  all  crops  ;  the 
last  is  possessed  by  few.  Indian  corn  produ- 
ces more  food  for  man,  beast  and  the  earth, 
than  any  other  farinaceous  plant.  If  the  food 
it  produces  for  the  two  first  was  wasted,  and 
men  and  beasts  should  thence  become  poor 
and  perish,  ought  their  poverty  or  death  to  be 
ascribed  to  the  plant  which  produced  the  food, 
or  to  those  who  wasted  it  ?  Is  Indian  corn 
justly  chargeable  with  the  impoverishment  of 
the  earth,  if  the  food  it  provides  for  that  is  not 
applied  ? 

If  the  theory  which  supposes  that  plants  ex- 
tract most  or  all  of  their  matter  from  the  at- 
mosphere, and  that  the  whole  of  this  matter  is 
manure,  be  true,  then  that  plant  which  produ- 
ces most  vegetable  offal  must  be  the  most  im- 
proving crop,  and  it  w  ill  hardly  be  denied  that 
Indian  corn  is  entitled  to  this  pre-eminence. 

Let  us  compare  it  with  wheat.  Suppose 
that  the  same  land  will  produce  as  much  grain 
of  the  one  as  of  the  other,  which  in  its  use  will 
make  equal  returns  to  the  earth.  Here  the 
equality  ends,  if  indeed  it  exists  even  in  this 
point.  The  corn  stalks  infinitely  exceed  the 
wheat  straw. in  bulk,  weight,  and  a  capacity 
for  making  food  for  the  earth.  If  any  at- 
tentive man  who  converts  both  his  stalks  and 
straw  into  manure,  will  compare  their  product 
in  April,  when  he  may  distinguish  one  from 
the  other,  lie  wifl  find  of  the  former  a  vast  su- 
periority in  quantity.  The  English  farmers 
consider  wheat  straw  as  their  most  abundant 
resouree  for  manure,  and  corn  stalks  are  far 
more  abundant  ;  corn  therefore  is  a  less  im- 
poverishing, because  a  more  compensating 
crop  to  the  earth,  credited  only  for  its  stalks, 
than  any  in  England.     In  comparing  crops,  to 


152  INDIA!*"  COR !«\ 

ascertain  their  relative  product,  and  operation 
on  the  earth,   we  must  contrast   farinaceous 
crops  with  each  other  ',  and  consider  the  litter 
er  offal  they  produce,  not  as  wasted,  but  as  ju- 
diciously applied  to  the   compensation   of  the 
land.     At    the   threshold  of  the  comparison, 
corn  exhibits  a  return  from  the  same  Ian 
more  offal  or  litter  in   its  stalks  alone,  than 
wheat  do.'s   altogether.     But  to  the  stalks  <>t 
eorn.  its  blades,  tops,  shuck?  and  cobs  remain 
to  be  added,  each  of  which  will  nearly  balance 
the  liner  bestowed  on  the  land  by  wheat.    Kut 
only  the  quantity  of  the  vegetable  matter  pro- 
duced by  corn,  is  far  greater  than  the  quantity 
produced  by  wheat,  hut  the  quality  is  better, 
and  the  risque  of  loss  from  evaporation  less. — 
The  straw  of  wheat  after  it  is  ripening  or  ripe. 
standing  or  lying  out  en  the  ground,  is  vastly 
diminished  in  weight  by  moisture,  and  injured 
after  it  is  cut,  even  by  dews.     I  think  1  have 
known  it  thus  lose  two  thirds  of  its  weight. 
Among  the  several  kinds  of  litter  furnished  by 
corn,  the  shucks  and  cobs  lose  nothing  of  their 
value  by  evaporation  ;  the  rind  of  the  si 
seems  intended  by  nature  to  resist  it.  that  the 
farmer  may  have  time  to  save  them  both  as  food 
and  litter  ;  from  the  same  rind  the  lop  derives 
some  security,  and  the  fodder  is  only  exposed  to 
it  as  grassis  in  being  made  into  hay.     But  the 
quality  of  every  part  of  the  corn  offal  is  better 
as  manure  than  the  wheat  offal.     The  cob  is 
said  to  be  a  valuable  food,  reduced  to  meal  ; 
if  so  it  probably  contains  an  oil.     The  stalk 
abounds  in  salts  far  beyond  wheat  straw.    The 
tops  and  blades  cured  green,  save  from  evapo- 
ration salts  lost  by  straw.     And   even  shucks, 
being  more  nutricious  as  food,  must  be  alli- 
ed some  degree  of  richness  beyond  the  straw. 


1FDIAN  COR*.  183 

The  whole  of  the  corn  offal  is  belter  food  than 
wheat  straw,  but  its  blades  and  tops  are  so 
greatly  superior,  that  cattle  prefer  them  to 
hay.  and  Mill  fatten  on  them  as  well.  The 
corn  offal  can  therefore  maintain  a  fat  herd, 
furnishing  abundantly  that  which  forms  a  com- 
pound with  vegetable  matter,  of  the  riches! 
consistence.  To  this  object  the  straw  is  in- 
competent. 

Let  us  noweompare  corn  &  wheat  as  farinace- 
ous food  only.  Corn  in  a  proper  climate  for  it, 
produces  more  farinaceous  matter  than  wlieat 
to  the  acre,  from  the  richest  down  to  the  poor- 
est soil ;  and  hence  also  results  a  greater 
return  to  the  earth.  The  highest  product  of 
corn  I  have  heard  of  in  the  United  States  is 
125  bushels  to  the  acre,  of  wheat  60.  a  differ- 
ence somewhat  diminished  by  the  difference  of 
weight.  Fifty  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre, 
are  almost  invariably  produced  by  land  well 
manured  and  well  cultivated,  whereas  even 
half  that  crop  of  wlieat  is  extremely  rare.— 
And  in  districts  where  the  average  crop  of 
wlieat  is  five,  that  of  corn  is  usually  about  fif- 
teen bushels  an  acre.  Besides,  com  both 
growing  and  gathered,  is  less  liable  to  misfor- 
tunes than  wheat. 

Indian  corn  may  be  correctly  called  meal, 
meadow  and  manure.  To  its  right  to  the  first 
title,  almost  every  tongue  in  the  largest  por- 
tion of  the  United  States  can  testify  ;  to  the 
second,  an  exclusive  reliance  on  it  for  fodder 
or  hay,  in  a  great  district  of  country  during 
two  centuries,  gives  conclusive  evidence  ;  but 
the  rueful  countenance  of  this  same  district, 
either  disproves  its  claim  to  the  third,  or  dis- 
allows any  pretension  of  the  inhabitants*  to  in- 
dustry or  agricultural  knowledge. 


/ 


13*  INDIA*  CORN". 

Id  Europe  no  husbandman  expects  a  tolera- 
ble crop  of  any  kind,  except  the  land  has  been 
veil  manured  within  seven  years  at  most  j 
here  we  have  obtained  for  two  centuries  from 
Indian  corn,  bread,  meat,  and  fodder,  without 
giving  it,  generally  speaking,  a  dust  of  ma- 
nure, or  allowing  any  rest  to  the  land  which 
produces  it.  Is  there  any  country  in  Europe, 
able  to  bear  this  draft  for  such  a  period,  with- 
out exhibiting  the  cadaverous  aspect  of  the. 
corn  district  of  the  United  States? 

But  not  content  with  bestowing  on  other 
crops,  the  meagre  modicum  of  manure,  which 
happened  to  lie  unavoidably  in  the  way  of  ig- 
norance, whilst  the  maintenance  of  every  thing 
was  required  of  corn,  without  allowing  it  acy, 
we  have  suffered  the  manure  provided  by  corn 
itself  to  waste  and  perish  :  and  having  both 
withheld  from  it  foreign  anis,  and  transferred 
to  other  plants  the  small  portion  of  its  own  re- 
sources for  manure,  which  accident  may  have 
saved,  and  permitted  the  residue  to  be  lost,  we 
charge  it  with  being  an  exhausting  and  killing 
orop. 

Such  is  the  experimental  process  hitherto 
pursued,  but  it  must  be  reversed,  before  the 
question  can  be  tolerably  understood  or  fairly 
determined.  It  will  be  reversed  by  convert- 
ing every  dust  of  its  offal  into  manure,  and 
manuring  highly  for  corn.  With  good  culti- 
vation an  acre  of  well  manured  laud,  seldom 
produces  less  than  fifty  bushels.  This  crop 
furnishes  also  other  food  equivalent  to  a  tole- 
rable crop  of  hay,  and  such  an  abundance  of 
means  for  raising  manure,  that  I  have  no  doubt 
if  properly  applied,  it  would  be  a  resource  for 
our  even  shortening  the  English  manuring  ro- 
tation, which  embraces  the  whole  farm  eve- 


INDIAN*  CORN.  135 

ry  seven  years  at  most.  Henee  I  conclude 
that  corn,  besides  being  tbe  most  productive 
ofain  farinaceous  crop,  is  also  tbe  least  im- 
poverishing, and  even  an  improving  crop  aided 
by  inclosing. 

Tbe  brevity  I  have  prescribed  to  myself,  in- 
duces me  to  pass  over  several  inferior  superi- 
orities of  Indian  corn,  and  to  conclude  its  en- 
comium v  it  b  one  of  peculiar  value.  As  a  fal- 
low crop,  it  is  unrivalled,  if  as  fallow  crops 
ought  constantly  to  do,  it  receives  the  manure. 
Arthur  Young  proves  the  vast  superiority  of  a 
fallow  crop  over  a  naked  fallow  in  England, 
where  a  crop  greatly  inferior  to  corn  in  value, 
is  necessarily  used.  This  is  usually  peas  or 
beans.  It  is  less  productive,  less  valuable  as 
bread  stuff,  less  frougbt  with  fodder,  almost 
wholly  destitute  of  litter  for  raising  manure, 
more  precarious,  more  liable  to  disaster  after 
it  is  gathered,  more  chargeable  in  point  of 
seed,  and  requires  more  skill,  trouble  and  ex- 
pencc  in  its  cultivation.  Under  all  these  dis- 
advantages, a  fallow  crop  in  England  is  pre- 
ferable to  a  naked  fallow.  Under  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  using  corn  as  such,  it  becomes  a 
brilliant  object  in  America,  if  attended  with  a 
complete  manuring,  as  fallow  crops  in  Eng- 
land invariably  are.  In  that  ease  fifty  bushels 
of  corn  and  thirty  of  wheat  may  be  expected 
from  good  culture.  No  value  is  produced  in 
England  by  the  fallow  crop  and  the  following 
wheat,  equal  to  eighty  bushels  of  bread  grain. 
But  credit  to  corn  the  savings  and  additional 
produce  arising  from  the  above  enumerated 
considerations,  and  it  certainly  promises  to  the 
American  farmer,  far  greater  benefits  from  a 
good  system  of  husbandry,  than  any  crop  with- 
in the  reach  of  an  English  farmer. 


136  INDIAN  GORtf; 

NUMBER  33. 

INDIAN  CORN,  CONTINUED. 


The  plant  which  contributes  in  the  greatest 
degree  to  national  subsistence,  best  deserves 
the  patronage  of  skill  and  industry  ;  and  yet 
the  cultivation  of  maize  remains  as  it  was  bor- 
rowed from  the  aboriginal  farmers  of  Ameri- 
ca, except,  that  if  product  is  the  test  of  science, 
they  must  be  allowed  to  havebeen  more  accom- 
plished husbandmen  than  their  imitators.  As 
the  Indians  certainly  made  better  crops  to  the 
acre,  and  preserved  the  earth  in  belter  heart, 
than  we  do,  we  may  at  least  hope  to  accomplish 
a  degree  of  perfection,  winch  from  their  suc- 
cess we  know  to  be  attainable,  however  deter- 
ring may  be  the  prospect  of  our  ability  to  im- 
prove upon  it.  If  indeed  we  could  be  persua- 
ded to  relinquish  what  we  have  returned,  of  this 
indigenous  system,  and  to  draw  omc  from  sci- 
entific principles  and  European  experience, 
perhaps  we  might  recover  the  palm  in  the  cul- 
tivation of  maize,  from  those  to  whom  we  have 
ourselves  assigued  it  by  a  special  cognomina- 
tion. 

Neither  in  theory  or  practice,  in  Europe  or 
elsewhere,  did  we  ever  hear  of  condemning 
land  perpetually  to  severe  crops,  two  years  out 
of  three,  without  aiding  it  by  any  species  of 
manure.  But  if  we  add  to  this  system  the 
two  items  with  which  it  is  usually  attended, 
one,  close  grazing  the  year  of  rest  as  it  is  call- 
ed (a  rest  like  that  enjoyed  by  a  man  first 
stunned  with  blows  and  then  trampled  to  death) 
the  other,  frequent  ploughings  of  two  or  three 


inches  deep  to  let  in  sun  and  keep  out  atmos- 
phere as  much  as  possible,  it  would  be  viewed 
as  the  most  complete  agricultural  caricature' 
hitherto  sketched  by  the  finest  fancy  for  the 
ridiculous. 

In  England,  a  thorough  manuring,  univer- 
sally attends  a  fallow  crop,  the  effect  of  which 
is  a  medium  product  of  wheat,  of  about  thirty 
bushels  to  the  acre.  Let  manuring  attend 
maize  as  a  fallow  crop,  and  we  follow  this  ex- 
ample. To  come  up  to  it  however,  we  must 
get  our  land  into  equal  heart  with  theirs,  when 
it  receives  this  manuring  ;  and  then  we  should 
be  able  fairly  to  estimate  the  value  of  Indian 
corn.  In  its  cultivation, the  first  improvement 
required,  is  therefore  to  manure  it  at  the  usual 
rate  of  other  fallow  crops. 

The  second  is  to  plough  vastly  deeper  than 
we  plough  at  present.  In  our  dry  and  hot 
climate,  the  preservation  of  the  moisture  and 
the  inhalation  of  the  atmosphere,  are  suf- 
ficient reasons  for  this.  To  these  are  to  be 
added,  the  deepening  of  the  soil,  and  an  in- 
crease of  pasture  for  the  plant.  The  maize  is 
a  little  <  ree,  and  possessing  roots  correspondent 
to  its  sizc,these  roots  will  of  course  strike  deep- 
er, both  to  procure  nourishment,  and  to  streng- 
then this  small  tree  against  severe  winds. — 
It  follows  with  a  great  degree  of  probability, 
that  this  large  plant  requires  deeper  ploughing 
than  a  smaller  one.  Yet  we  plough  shallower 
in  its  cultivation  than  the  people  of  Europe  do 
in  cultivating  wheat. 

I  shall  here  endeavor  to  prove  the  truth  of  a 
pair  of  paradoxes.  One,  that  shallow  plough- 
ing increases,  the  other,  that  deep  ploughing 
diminishes  labour.  A  single  observation  almost 
suffices  to  sustain  both.  By  shallow  ploughing,- 


138  pnorur  coRir. 

the  seeds  of  grass  and  weeds,  are  kept  near  the 
surface  throughout  the  year,  locked  up  by 
frost,  drought  or  immersion,  ready  10  sprout 
upon  the  occurrence  of  every  geuial  season, 
when  they  appear  in  millions,  and  instantly  re- 
quire the  plough,  however  recently  used  :  hy 
deep,  if  skilfully  done,  these  seeds,  which  a- 
bound  most  near  the  surface,  are  deposited 
below  a  depth  of  earth,  which  they  pe- 
netrate slowly  and  in  small  numbers,  so  that 
the  repetition  of  ploughing  is  far  less  necessa- 
ry. 

One  or  two  deep  ploughing*,  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  soil,  will,  with  the  subsequent 
use  of  the  skimmer  or  the  harrow,  serve  to 
make  the  crop  of  corn  :  in  place  of  which  at 
least  four  or  five  shallow  ploughings,  with  the 
same  aid,  will  often  destroy  ir. 

To  demonstrate  the  difference  in  point  of  la- 
bour, I  will  describe  the  tillage  of  corn  as  I 
practice  it  to  some  extent,  and  leave  the  reader 
to  make  the  comparison  in  his  own  mind  with 
the  usual  mode  of  cultivation. 

The  rows  are  never  ploughed  bot  in  one  di- 
rection, cross  ploughing  being  wholly  abandon- 
ed. Their  width  is  five  and  a  half  fret.  The 
field  being  once  thrown  into  the  position  of 
ridges  and  furrows,  never  requires  to  be  laid 
off  again.  The  furrow  is  left  as  deep  as  pos- 
sible, and  when  the  field  comes  again  into  til- 
lage, the  list  or  ridge  is  made  upon  this  furrow, 
sothat  there  is  a  regular  alternity  between 
ridges  and  furrows.  If  the  soil  is  of  a  friable 
nature,  a  large  plough  drawn  by  four  horses, 
and  cutting  a  sod  about  twelve  inches  wide  and 
eight  deep,  is  run  on  each  side  of  this  old  fur- 
row, and  raises  a  ridge  in  its  centre,  on  vhieh 
to  pJLant  the;  corn.    The  *ld  ridge  is  split  by  a 


INDIAN    CORN.  17>9 

large  t  rowel -h  oe-plough,  having  a  coulter  on 
the  point,  two  mould-boards,  drawn  by  four 
horses,  and  cutting-  ten  inches  deep.  If  the 
soil  is  stiff  or  tough  with  turf,  the  first  plough 
with  four  horses,  ridges  or  lists  on  the  old  wa- 
ter furrow,  with  four  furrows  of  the  same 
depth  and  width.  On  the  summit  of  this  ridge 
or  list,  a  deep  and  wide  furrow  is  run  with  a 
trowel-hoe  plough  and  two  mould-boards, 
in  which  the  corn  is  planted  and  covered  be- 
tween two  and  three  inches  deep  with  the  foot. 
The  planting  is  guided  by  a  string  carried 
across  the  ridges,  with  coloured  marks  at  the 
distance  apart  intended  for  the  corn.  This 
furrow  is  a  complete  weeding  of  the  ridge  pre- 
vious to  planting,  which  it  should  barely  pre- 
cede. TIig  corn  receives  no  more  ploughing, 
until  it  is  thinned  and  hand-hoed  along  the 
rows,  about  two  feet  wide.  After  this  a  deep 
furrow  is  run  on  each  side  of  it  by  a  large 
plough,  drawn  by  two  horses,  with  a  mould- 
hoard,  causing  the  earth  thrown  out  of  it  to 
meet  at  the  corn,  though  the  furrow  is  a  foot 
from  it.  Thenceforth  the  tillage  consists  of  a 
streak  or  furrow  of  a  mere  weeding  plough 
called  a  skimmer,  cutting  with  two  wings 
twenty-four  inches — drawn  by  one  horse  ;  and 
of  a  central,  deep  and  wide  furrow,  made  with 
a  trowel-hoe  and  two  mould-boards,  drawn  by 
two  horses,  to  be  repeated  when  necessary. — 
The  whole  to  be  concluded  with  a  narrow 
weeding  or  hand-hoeing  along  the  slip  in  the 
direction  of  the  row,  not  kept  completely  clean 
by  the  skimmer. 


J&fl  rSDIA>    COR*. 


NUMBER  3k. 


INDIAN   CORK,  CONTINUED. 

The  judicious  reader  will  discern,  that  the* 
effects  of  high  ridges  and  deep  furrows  in  cul- 
tivating corn  are  numerous.  The  corn  it 
planted  immediately  over  the  furrow  of  the 
preceding  crop,  and  by  completing  the  rever- 
sal of  the  ridge  early  in  its  culture,  it  grows 
upon  a  depth  of  tilth  three  or  four  times  ex- 
ceeding what  is  attained  by  planting  and  cioss 
ploughing  in  the  usual  mode.  Its  roois  are 
never  cut  in  one  direction,  and  this  great  depth 
of  tilth  thus  early  obtained,  by  superseding 
the  occasion  for  deep  ploughing  in  the  latter 
period  of  its  growth,  saves  them  in  the  other. 
The  preservation  of  the  roots,  and  their  deeper 
pasture,  enables  the  corn  much  longer  to  re- 
sist drought.  The  litter  of  inclosed  grounds, 
thrown  into  the  deep  furrow  upon  which  the 
corn  list  is  made,  is  a  reservoir  of  manure,  far 
removed  from  evaporation;  within  reach  of 
the  roots,  which  will  follow  it  along  the  fur- 
row :  and  calculated  for  feeding  the  plant  in 
droughts.  The  dead  earth  brought  up  by  the 
plough  from  the  deep  furrow  is  deposited  on 
each  side  of  it,  without  hurting  the  erop  on  the 
ridge,  and  with  the  bottom  of  the  furrow  re- 
mains four  years  to  be  fructified  by  the  atmos- 
phere so  as  to  escape  the  present  loss  some- 
times accruing  from  mingling  too  much  dead 
earth  with  the  soil  by  deep  flat  ploughing,  and 
yet  to  mellow  and  deepen  it  more  rapidly. 
And  much  labour  is  saved  in  planting  the  com 


INDIAN    COttN.  Hi 

whether  the  hoe  is*ised  after  a  string,  or  the 
siring  is  carried  across  furrows  previously 
made  on  the  ridge. 

In  all  lands  unable  to  produce  forty  bushels 
of  corn  to  the  acre,  the  considerations  of  pro- 
duce and  saving  labour  united,  have  deter- 
mined the  proper  distance  to  be  five  and  an 
half  feet  square,  with  two  or  three  stalks  at 
each  station,  except  in  poor  spots  where  one 
will  suffice.  If  it  can  produce  that  crop  or 
more,  I  have  planted  it  at  the  distance  of  five 
feet  six  inches,  by  two  feet  nine,  leaving  two 
stalks  in  sandy,  and  three  in  stift'lands.  Deep 
ploughing  in  one  direction,  by  shielding  the 
corn  against  drought,  and  saving  its  roots,  al- 
lows it  to  be  planted  thicker  than  usual. 

Young's  experiments  have  ascertained  that 
fallow  crops  are  more  profitable  than  naked 
fallows.  Several  superiorities  of  Indian  corn 
over  the  faJIow  crops  used  in  England,  have 
been  noticed.  The  following  are,  I  believe, 
omitted.  The  high  ridges  produced  by  the 
mode  of  cultivation  I  have  adopted,  double 
the  surface  exposed  to  the  Atmosphere,  and 
lessen  by  one  half  that  exposed  to  the  sun,  so 
as  to  increase  inhalation  and  diminish  exhala- 
tion .cry  considerably.  No  other  fallow  crop 
will  enable  us  to  obtain  these  benefits  by  the 
agency  of  the  plough,  because  none  of  them 
will  admit  of  being  drilled  sufficiently  wide 
apart,  nor  admit  of  an  equal  use  of  the 
plough. 

Corn  is  a  fallow  crop,  peculiarly  adapted  to 
eo-opcrate  with  the  system  of  inclosing ; 
whereas  a  fallow  for  wheat,  by  which  an  uu- 
grazed  lay  of  grass,  weeds,  or  even  of  red  clo- 
ver is  turned  under,  frequently  defeats  th<> 
hopes  of  the  farmer.  Hence  he  is  seduced  jp- 
13. 


1A2  ~.:J.\DIAN    COIN. 

10  the  ruinous  practice  of  feeding  oft*  his  clo- 
ver before  he  commences  his  fallow  :  a  prac- 
tice under  which  very  rich  land  only  will  im- 
prove, whereas  the  heaviest  cover,  turned  un- 
der by  a  large  plough  and  lour  horses,  is  a 
pledge  for  good  crops  both  of  coin  and  wheat, 
ewiftg  to  the  quality  of  the  former  of  thriving 
upon  the  food  yielded  hy  coarse  litter,  and  the 
time  gained  during  its  growth,  for  reducing 

-  litter  10  proper  food  for  the  latter. 
1  The  winters  manure,  like  this  litter  is  also 
made  more  extensively henefieial  to  a  crop  of 
wheat,  than  if  it  had  heen  exposed  to  putrefac- 
tion throughout  the  summer,  because  whate- 
ver i  into  the  atmosphere,  during  a  vi- 
olent summer's  fermentation,  is  lost  hoth  to 
the  earth  and  to  the  crop  of  wheat  ;  whereas 
the  fermentation  is  less  violent,  when  this  lit- 
ter is  mingled  with  the  earth;  which  catches  a 
portion  oj  its  fertilizing  qualities  as  the  slow 
putrefaction  proceeds,  and  less  of  the  manure 
is  lost  when  the  wheat  is  sown,  (nan  if  rotted 
in  a  body,  Whereby  much  of  it  is  dissipated  in 
the  atmosphere  :  a  dissipation  which  corn 
partly  pn  i ,  ;.:  -.  and  ; 

rj  he  manure  made  on  the  winter's  farm  pen, 
remains  wet  I  unrotted  until  the  mouth 

vpri!,  ancl  when  composed  of  com  stafttis 
of  a  rough  and  hard  nature.  Yet  land  cover- 
ed with  fifty  loads  and  sows  with  one  ttishel 
of  gypsum  to  an  acre,  wi:i  y  reduce,  threefold 
re  corn  than  in  its  natural  sfate;  and  this 
crop  is  made  in  i.  s  \        pace  just  suf- 

ficientio  reduce  the  r  to  a  pabu- 

lum proper  for  w  heat.  ri  he  better  this  coarse 
lifter  and  the  earth  are  <  ti  mingled, 

the    fermentation,   and   the 
the  crop*     'ihe  sudden  growth  of  the 


INDIAN    COKN.  113 

corn,  demonstrates  the  vast  benefit  to  be  de- 
rived from  litter  as  coarse  and  hard  as  corn 
stalks,  whilst  the  degree  of  their  putrefaction 
is  inconsiderable,  and  consequently  the  vast 
loss  sustained  by  completing  this  putrefaction* 
without  gaining  a  valuable  crop  from  its  pro- 
Cess.  After  the  process  of  figment  at  ion,  and 
putrefaction  is  finished  in  the  earth,  the  resi- 
duum is  the  same,  as  if  i)  had  been  finished  on*, 
of  the  earth  ;  besides  this  residuum,  supposed 
by  the  old  theory  of  compounding,  stirring 
rotting  dunghills,  to  contain  all  the  fyrtiliziug 
qualities  of  vegetable  matter,  Indian  corn  en- 
ables us  to  reap  a  rich  harvest  of  bread  stuff 
from  the  process  towards  it. 

The  same  property  of  Indian  corn  presents 
us  also  with  a  vast  addition  to  our  vegetable 
matter  for  manure.  The  crop  of  offal  as  well 
as  that  of  food,  is  augmented  three  fold  by 
the  matter  separated  from  coarse  litter  in  re- 
ducing it  to  manure  proper  for  wheat.  This* 
of  itself  exhibits  the  vast  preference  of  corn,  as 
a  fallow  crop,  to  the  application  of  rotted  ma- 
nure to  a  naked  fallowr  for  wheat.  Xo  two 
nropa  can  be  so  exactly  fitted  for  advancing  ;i 
good  system  of  agriculture.  The  coarse  or- 
18  of  the  one.  relishes  the  food  rejected  by 
the  delicate  organs  of  the  other,  and  by  the 
economy  of  sa\ing  what  would  otherwise  be 
lost,  not  only  enable  us  to  obtain  an  additional 
crop,  but  by  enereasing  our  means  for  raising 
manure  in  a  three  fold  ratio,  must  have  the  ef- 
i  of  increasing  the  wops  of  wheat  them- 
selves, far  beyond  the  confines  to  which  they 
are  limited  by  naked  fallows. 


£i4-  INBIAX  CORJT. 

NUMBER  35. 

IKDIAK    CORN,    CONTINUES. 

The  reader  will  remember,  that  Indian  cora 
is  to  be  planted  on  a  high  ridge,  and  that  cross 
ploughing  is  excluded.  These  ridges  should 
rnfi  North  and  South,  to  equalize  both  the  be- 
nefits and  injuries  derived  from  the  sun.  The 
injury  suffered  by  a  flat  surface  from  its  ex- 
eessive  beat,  would  he  rather  increased  thaa 
diminished,  by  exposing  one  face  of  the  ridge 
to  the  South,  whilst  the  Northern  aspect  would 
Jose  the  benefit  of  its  genial  warmth.  These 
high  ridges  have  another  important  effect.— 
However  s,teep  the  declivity,  we  never  see  the 
roots  of  trees,  shrubs  or  grasses,  penetrating 
through  the  ground  into  the  atmosphere.  It 
is  of  course  evident  that  they  recoil  fi»om  one 
element,  and  bend  towards  their  food  in  the 
other,  wherever  it  is  to  be  found.  By  the  po» 
sition  of  the  corn  on  high  ridges  from  its  in- 
fancy, the  roots  on  -approaching  the  declivity 
on  each  side,  are  trained  to  run  lengthwayt 
«»f  the  ridge,  and  thus  escape  the  injury  they 
would  otherwise  sustain  by  getting  into  the 
range  of  the  deep  middle  furrow. 

As  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  expect  the 
reader  to  recollect  observations  made  in  con- 
sidering the  subject  of  manuring.  I  shall  re- 
mind him,  that  the  groun:!  intended  to  be  ma- 
nured for  Indian  corn  is  fallowed  in  the  win- 
ter :  that  before  or  after  the  rest  of  the  crop 
i«  planted,  this  manure  is  carried  out,  plough- 
ed in,  and  the  corn  to  be  benefitted  by  it.  plan- 
ted :  and  that  before  it  receives  any  plough. 


INDIAN  CORN.  1J>5 

rng,  the  corn  is  to  be  thinned  and  wed  or  hand 
hoed.  This  process  will  bring  us  into  June, 
and  allow  an  interval  for  recruiting  the  teams, 
when  clover  is  in  its  best  state  for  that  end.  By 
this  time  the  corn  is  from  eight  to  twenty-four 
inches  high.  At  this  juncture  the  deep  fur- 
row before  mentioned  on  each  side  of  it  being 
run,  narrows  the  ridge  for  about  eight  days> 
until  it  is  again  widened  by  the  middle  furrow  ; 
aud  that  space  will  suffice  to  give  to  the  corn 
roots,  the  longitudinal  direction  which  shields 
them  against  all  injury  ;  this  furrow  being  the 
only  deep  one  received  by  the  corn  after  it  is 
planted,  (the  water  furrow  excepted  out  of  the 
way  of  which  the  roots  are  thus  trained)  being 
bestowed  on  it  whilst  it  js  young  and  its  roots 
short,  and  being  run  near  a  foot  from  it,  the 
roots  of  the  corn,  by  this  mode  of  culture, 
wholly  escape  injury,  and  the  effects  of  drought 
on  the  plant  being  thus  diminished,  its  pro- 
duct is  increased. 

The  lirst  ploughing  which  is  to  answer  the 
end  both  of  a  fallow,  and  a  list  or  ridge  on 
which  to  plant  the  corn,  is  by  far  the  most  ma- 
terial part  of  the  system,  and  indeed  the  only 
good  security  for  its  success.  The  furrow 
must  be  deep  and  wide,  so  as  to  overturn  into 
the  old  water  furrow,  a  considerable  mass  of 
the  litter  produced  by  inclosing,  whether  weeds 
or  clover.  This  mass,  in  addition  to  its  being 
a  reservoir  of  food,  gradually  supplying  the 
corn  during  (he  summer  as  it  putrifiea,  ope- 
rates powerfully  in  preserving  the  friability 
and  mellowness  of  the  earth,  by  the  passage 
of  the  air  perpetually  escaping  from  it,  through 
Us  tegument,  into  its  congenial  element.  By 
this  process,  the  propensity  of  hard  and  cold 
soils  to  run  and  bake,  is  removed  or  diminish- 


Utf  INDIAN"  CORF. 

ed  ;  a  propensity  -which  is  encouraged  in  the 
highest  degree  by  shallow  ploughing  on  naked 
or  grazed  lipids.  And  by  the  saw  process, 
tlie  inconveniences  of  a  inass  of  dry  litter,  on 
enclosed  fields,  eonil)ined  with  shallow  plough- 
ing are  also  avoided  :  because  it  is  so  well  bu- 
ried, that  the  corn  is  planted  above  it,  and 
sprouts  in  a  bed  of  clean  earth. 

The  accidents  to  which  Indian  corn  is  liable, 
are  far  inferior  to  those  of'any  other  farinaceous 
plant,  and  less  remediless.  It  eomes  up  bet- 
ter :  if.  may  be  re-planted,  and  at  last  it  may 
be  transplanted.  This  last  precaution  for  in- 
juring a  crop,  is  executed  with  little  labour 
by  planting  a  portion  of  it  very  early,  in  the 
quarter  of  the  held  where  it  will  vegetate  and 
grow  quickest,  somewhat  thicker,  to  furnish 
plants  :  and  by  transplanting  those  drawn  out 
in  thinning  in  moist  weather,  or  after  a  season, 
as  the  tobacco-makers  say.  The  corn  plants 
will  live  better  than  those  of  tobacco  or  any 
other  herb  I  ever  tried,  and  may  be  transplant- 
ed until  they  are  eighteen  inches  high.  The 
large  plants  will  be  equal  to  the  smaller  and 
later  planted  corn.  Indeed  I  often  till  up  va- 
cancies by  setting  the  plants  of  the  same  field 
as  it  is  thinned,  and  always  thin  as  I  set.  to 
avoid  a  double  perambulation.  A  pointed 
stick  both  aids  in  thinning  and  in  setting  th<- 
eorn,  ■which  is  done  nearly  as  rapidly  as  tobac- 
co is  planted. 

I  repeat  a  fact  which  most  people  know,  to 
remove  an  objection  against  the  very  deep 
ploughing  recommended  as  the  basis  of  the 
corn  crop,  arising  from  an  erroneous  opinion 
in  a  few.  that  the  roots  of  corn  and  most  other 
herbaceous  plants,  seek  their  food  only  near 
the  surface  :  whereas  the  loots  of  wheat  will 


INDIAN  CORV:.  I*? 

penetrate  four  feet  of  tilth,  and  those  of  corn 
will  strike  still  deeper.  An  objection  that  the 
roots  of  the  latter  will  not  reach  the  reservoir 
of  food  provided  for  them  in  the  deep  covered 
litter  of  an  inclosed  Held,  would  therefore  he 
erroneous. 

No  grain  exhibits  so  many  varieties,  or  is  so 
liable  to  change  as  the  maize  ;  the  preferred 
species  can  only  be  preserved  or  improved  by 
selecting  the  seed  at  the  time  of  shucking; 
this  will  also  prevent  its  exposure  to  a  sweat, 
and  produce  its  better  vegetation  :  and  it  in- 
creases the  crop,  which  is  deeply  influenced  by 
the  length  of  the  grain. 

[Note  D.J 


US  FXorGHIS^. 

NUMBER  36. 

S  --.  VGEIKG. 

Tliis  subject  has  been  unavoidably  anticipa- 
ted by  its  connection  with  others,  but  yet  it  is 
not  wholly  exhausted. 

I  utterly  deny  the  truth  of  the  theory  which 
asserts  that  ploughing  is  a  substitute  for  ma- 
nure :  for  though  I  admit,  that  the  atmosphere 
is  the  matrix  of  manures  in  all  forms,  and  that 
deep  ploughing  will  cause  the  earth  to  inhale 
and  retain  atmospherical  manure  better  than 
shallow,  yet  atmosphere  being  more  subtle 
tiian  water,  must  be  more  fleeting :  and  its 
properties  must  of  course  be  elaborated  into 
more  permanency  than  when  merely  caught 
by  the  earth's  power  of  absorption,  to  perfect 
their  efficacy.  Even  rain,  though  richer  and 
grosser,  is  quickly  wasted  by  evaporation  ; 
and  atmosphere,  a  diet  too  thin  for  the  exclu- 
sive sustenance  of  plants,  as  is  seen  in  droughts 
and  on  all  poor  soils,  cannot  be  fixed  by  plough- 
ing, because  earth  has  not  the  power  like  ve- 
getables of  elaborating  it  into  a  lasting  form. 
Plants  speedily  die  in  atmosphere  and  live 
long  in  rain  or  water. 

AVe  must  avoid  the  plausible  error,  that  if 
the  atmosphere  is  the  matrix  of  manure,  its 
inhalation  may  permanently  enrich  the  earth, 
and  supercede  the  slow  process  necessary  for 
it?  elaboration  into  the  vegetable  form  fur  that 
end.  "We  know  that  marie  possesses  the  pro- 
perty of  permanently  enriching  itself  hy  fix- 
ing the  atmospherical  fertilizing  qualities ; 
but  we  know  also,  that  such  is  not  the  nature 


PLOUGHING.  Ii9 

of  other  earths.  This  natural  difference  is 
the  reason  prescribing  different  modes  for  fer- 
tilizing marie  and  such  earths,  and  exploding 
Tail's  exclusive  reliance  upon  the  mode  by 
which  marie  is  enriched,  for  enriching  earths 
of  different  properties.  But  yet  deep  plough- 
ing ought  not  to  be  rejected,  because  although 
it  does  not  enable  earths  generally  to  extract 
from  the  atmosphere,  a  sufficiency  of  its 
fertilizing  qualities  to  make  them  rich  ;  yet 
the  portion  they  do  extract,  if  even  as  transi- 
tory as  rain,  may  still  retain  a  high  value  a- 
nioug  the  several  agents,  necessary  for  produ- 
cing the  most  perfect  effects  of  good  husband- 
ry. 

Lime  and  gypsum  repeatedly  applied  tn 
land  kept  in  constant  culture,  without  the  in- 
tervention of  vegetable  matter,  will  finally 
render  it  barren  ;  but  if  ploughing  was  a  suffi- 
cient substitute  for  manuring,  by  absorbing 
and  fixing  atmosphere,  it  would  have  provided 
a  Miffieieut  quantity  of  pabulum  for  these  ex- 
citers to  exercise  their  power  upon,  and  effec- 
tually have  prevented  the  imbecility  arising 
from  reiterated  exertions,  by  reiterated  sup- 
pi' es. 

Plants  perish  by  an  overdose  of  dung  or  rain, 
but  not  by  one  of  atmosphere,  because  it  is 
sparsely  sprinkled  with  their  food,  and  this 
food  must  heeollected,  condensed  and  render- 
ed operative,  by  some  process  more  effectual 
than  the  inhalation  of  atmosphere  by  the 
cn-ib  ;  which,  alone,  will  hardly  produce 
more  sensible  effects  than  its  inhalation  by  a 
man  as  a  substitute  Cora  dose  of  nitre. 

The  degrees  of  value  in  manure,  probably 
ris.'  with  its  permanency,  and  maybe  marked,, 
biuipie  atmosphere  i.    Rain  2.  Green  herbs  o» 


lcQ  PicrcmxG, 

.  Bry  herbs  .'.  AVooJ  6.  If  the 
reader  should  plaee  a  large  decaying  Trunk  of 
a  u  -pot 

rent    si: 

.  would  i 
reserve  tl  iu  heart. 

Itare  wkk  ;ure,r 

has  b  of  the  Southern 

>.  with  this  .  "  hat  he  pi 

deep,  they  shallow  :   b\  i  vet  the  complete  de- 
struction of  a  soil  originally  good*  ¥  hieh  if 
effected,  ought  after  two  but  died  rears  exne- 
rience,  to  explode  so  much  of  it,  as  excludes 
the  ;  y  of  manure.     The  same  shallow 

ploughing  which  product  d  good  erops,  whilst 
the  land  was  naturally  rid  .  rod  uce  good 

erops  if  it  wa»  made  artificiallvrieh.  rl 
•rops  obtained  by  had  culture  from  rich  land, 
demonstrates  that  fertility  i-  the  first  ol 
to  be  effected.     But  whilst  1  his  i>  admitted, 
the  effects  of  uniting  fine  tillage  with  a  fci 
soil,    ought  not  10  he  forgotten,    by  any   [ 
.  'a^te  for  excellence  or  foe 
Ilenee  deep  ploughing  has  been  often  recom- 
mended in  these  essays,  and  to  these  recom- 
mendations are  added  the  following  n 

Deep  ploughing  upon  a  naked  and  po<  ir  soil, 
by  which  a  caput  mortuum  is  brought  to  the 
surface,   has  frequently  proved  pi  -. — 

This  has  been  owing  lo  a  variety  of  can 
but    among  them,  the  preservation  of  a  flat 
surface,  though  least  suspected.  1.  ibly 

been  the  most  operative.  The  simple  pro 
of  burying  under  a  sterile  tegument,  the  little 
Bgtli  of  the  land,  neither]-:  omises  mop  per- 
forms much  :  but  the  disappointment  of  hopes 
really  forlorn,  frequently causes  a?  to  abandon 
rt,  aad  embrace  despair. 


PLOUGHING.  151 

t 

T3y  the  system  of  these  essays,  inclosing, 
manuring,  and  high  narrow  ridges,  are  com- 
bined with  deep  ploughing.  The  two  first  re- 
plenish the  earth  with  a  iarge  stock  of  vegeta- 
ble matter,  and  the  last  has  the  etfect  of  col- 
lecting the  existing  soil  in  the  centre  of  the 
ridge,  and  depositing  the  sterile  on  its  two 
sides,  there  to  remain  for  above  three  years, 
exposed  to  the  action  of  the  atmosphere. — • 
Thus  all  the  bad  effects  of  deep  ploughing  are 
avoided.  Instead  of  a  naked  surface,  it  is  ap- 
plied to  one  largely  replenished  with  vegeta- 
ble matter.  Instead  of  forcing  the  soil  and 
substratrum  into  a  topsey-turvey  position,  it 
collects  and  doubles  the  first  for  a  present  crop, 
and  provides  for  the  amelioration  of  the  other, 
for  a  future  one.  It  deepens  and  fructifies 
the  soil,  whilst  it  makes  the  best  provision  for 
present  profit.  For  tiic  reader  is  to  observe 
that.  J  am  speaking  of  poor  lands,  whose  soils 
require  doubling  for  present  subsistence,  and 
improving  for  future  comfort  :  and  not  of 
these,  whose  soils  cannot  be  pierced  by  the 
plough. 

Deep  ploughing  (by  which  I  always  mean 
the  best  to  lie  performed  by  four  good  horses 
in  a  plough)  combined  with  inclosing,  by  turn- 
ing under  a  good  coat  of  dry  vegetable  mat- 
ter, creates  a  covered  drain,  and  thus  vastly 
obstructs  tiic  formation  of  gullies  in  hilly 
foods,  even  if  fallowed  with  a  level  surface. 
Hut  such  hinds  will  admit  of  narrow  ridges  as 
well  as  level,  by  a  degree  of  skill  and  attention 
so  easily  attainable  t fiat  I  observe  it  to  have 
existed  in  Scotland  above  a  century  past. under 
a  state  of  agriculture  otherwise  execrable,  and 
among  the  ignorant  highbinders.  It  is  effect- 
ed by  carrying  the  ridges  horizontally  in  suck 


•452  *LOTJGHIN«. 

inflections  as  the  hillyness  of  the  ground  may 
require,  curved  or  zig-zag,  preserving  their 
breadth.  The  preservation  of  the  soil  is  hard- 
ly more  valuable  than  (hat  of  the  rain  water 
in  the  successive  reservoirs  thus  produced  to 
refresh  the  thirsty  hill  sides,  instead  of  its 
«Flishing  to  and  poisoning  the  vallies.  This 
classic  system  of  agriculture  has  been  intro- 
duced into  Virginia  by  a  gentleman  of  Albe- 
marle, in  a  style  completely  adapted  to  the  na- 
ture of  the  country,  &  which  Mill  be  copied  by 
those  who  shall  not  be  discouraged  by  its  per- 
fection. His  ridges  however  are  wide,  where- 
as in  the  maize  country,  they  ought  not  to  ex- 
ceed five  or  six  feet. 

If  inclosing,  manuring,  deep  and  horizon- 
tal ploughing  were  unattended  by  any  other 
advantages,  that  of  preventing  the  land  from 
washing  away  would  in  many  views  be  a  suf- 
ficient recommendation  of  such  a  system. — 
The  disaster  is  not  terminated  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  soil,  the  impoverishment  of  indivi- 
duals, and  transmission  of  a  curse  to  futurity. 
—Navigation  itself  is  becoming  its  victim,  and 
in  mauy  parts  of  the  United  States,  our  Agri- 
culture has  arrived  to  the  insurpassable  state 
of  imperfection,  of  applying  its  best  soil  to %he 
removal  of  the  worst  farther  from  market. 

The  alternation  once  every  four  years  be- 
tween deep  furrows  and  high  ridges,  accor- 
ding to  the  recommended  mode  of  cultivating 
«orn,  and  the  deep  ploughing,  by  burying  one 
portion  of  the  garliek  very  deep,  and  exposing 
another  to  frost,  will  probably  destroy  ii  ;  a 
conjecture  founded  upon  its  considerable  di- 
minution in  grounds  thus  treated. 


NUMBER  37. 

CULMIFEROUS    CROPS. 


Among  these  wheat  is  the  most  valuable, 
and  is  exposed  to  most  calamities.  These  ca- 
lamities are  sometimes  the  effect  of  climate* 
at  others  of  bad  tillage,  and  gradually  dimi- 
nish, as  the  climate  becomes  less  favourable 
for  Indian  corn  ;  for  which  inconvenience,  the 
additional  compensation  according  to  the 
same  thermometer  is  bestowed,  of  a  greater 
suitableness  for  rye,  oats  and  barley.  In  the 
climate  and  soil  proper  for  maize  (I  speak  ge- 
nerally without  regard  to  exception)  rye  and 
barley  seldom  succeed,  oats  are  light  and  pre- 
carious, and  wheat  is  preferable,  both  on  the 
score  of  value  and  risque,  to  either.  There 
are  two  calamities  only  common  to  wheat, 
which  may  not  be  avoided  with  certainty ; 
those  of  the  Hessian  fly  and  rust.  As  to  the 
weavil  tbey  are  certainly  avoided  by  getting 
it  out  early  ;  a  habit  which  v ill  prevail,  so 
soon  as  it  is  discovered,  that  wheat  may  be 
severed  from  the  straw  by  treading  or  a  ma- 
chine, with  the  labour  necessary  to  secure  it 
in  stacks  or  barns.  The  facility  with  which 
the  grain  then  comes  out,  has  enabled  me  in  a 
dry  harvest,  to  tread  an  entire  considerable 
crop,  almost  by  the  time  the  harvest  ended; 
and  I  generally  pursue  the  practice  as  far  as 
the  weather  will  permit,  so  as  to.  have  a  rem- 
nant only  in  stooks  capable  of  being  gotten  out 
so  soon  after  harvest  as  to  avoid  this  calami* 
ty. — The  best  bread  and  seed  wheat,  is  inva» 
1*. 


\oi  CrLMTFEROUS  cBors. 

rlab'v  fliat  gotten  out  and  cleaned  within  a 
day  or  two  after  it  is  cut,  and  deposited  dry, 
in  a  dry  place,  in  barrels,  hogsheads,  or  chests 
opened  or  closed. 

The  Hessian  fly  is  so  little  understood,  as  to 
have  become  an  excuse  for  the  lo»s  of  crops 
proceeding  from  bad  tillage.  Lands  arc  tired 
by  shallow  and  incessant  culture,  or  by  being 
prevented  from  invigorating  themselves  with 
vegetable  substances.  Even  ihe  richest  bot- 
tom lands  are  subject  to  weariness,  and  some- 
times are  said  to  have  grown  lousy,  so  that 
they -will  cease  at  length  to  yield  good  corn  ; 
and  the  crop  has  the  appearance  of  being  in- 
fested by  insects.  To  such  causes  are  owing 
1  think,  most  of  the  charges  brought  against 
the  Hessian  fly.  They  would  be  removed  by 
manuring,  covering  the  land  with  good  clover 
lays,  and  by  deep  ploughing,  in  the  cultivati- 
on of  the  maize  fallow  crop  or  of  any  other, 
according  to  the  foregoing  system  ;  or  by  ma- 
naging niiked  fallows  in  the  same  way. 
And  moreover ,  a  probability  exists  that  the 
two  deep  ploughings  one  in  tjie  winter  and  the 
other  early  in  June,  recommended  by  the 
same  system,  might  destroy  the  fly  itself  in 
some  form,  and  other  insects,  to  great  extent. 
At  least  my  experience  has  never  furnished 
me  with  a  single  instance,  in  which  a  crop  has 
suffered  by  any  insect,  when  the  land  was  in 
heart  and*  we'll  covered  with  dry  vegetable 
natter,  when  that  matter  was  turned  under 
as  deep  as  four  horses  in  a  plough  could  do  it, 
-when  the  land  had  received  a  second  good 
ploughing  by  two  horses  in  a  plough,  and 
when  the  wheat  was  seeded  on  high  and  nar- 
row ridges,  with  a  clean  furrow. 

The  rust  as  it  is  called  may   be  better  un- 


CFLMIFEROUS  CROPS.  155 

dcrstood,  heeause  it  may  be  certainly  produc- 
ed, hy  a  due  combination  of  beat,  moisture, 
shallow  ploughing  and  a  Hat  surface.  By  this 
process  we  shall  never  fail  of  obtaining  it  on 
a  stift'soii,  from  which  the  rain  water  cannot 
escape,  just  as  by  dosing  a  man  with  arsenick, 
we  arc  sure  of  poisoning;  him  at  last.  Of 
course  we  should  no  more  prescribe  this  sys- 
tem of  agriculture  to  the  wheat,  than  arsenick 
to  the  man,  if  we  do  not  wish  to  poison  it,  al- 
though its  diet  like  that  of  a  man  may  disagree 
with  it  occasionally  in  spite  of  art  and  caution. 
Deep  ploughing,  high  ridging,  and  deep  wide 
water  furrows,  constitute  a  mode  of  culture 
the  reverse  of  that  which  inevitably  afflicts 
wheat  with  the  calamity  called  the  rust,  and 
hence  may  sometimes  prevent,  and  generally 
diminish  it.  The  draining  of  the  ridges  and 
the  flues,  for  the  transmission  of  air  through 
the  wheat,  created  by  the  deep  wide  furrows, 
will  diminish  (he  heat  and  moisture,  which 
appear  to  be  the  chief  causes  of  the  disease  j 
and  vigorous  roots  in  a  deep  tilth,  may  add  to 
the  capacity  of  the  plant  to  resist  the  malady. 
Plastering,  by  an  equal  measure  of  gypsum 
mixed  with  it,  and  moistened,  has  benefitted 
wheat  in  sundry  experiments  to  the  conjectur- 
ed extent  often  per  centum,  when  it  has  been 
free  from  what  is  called  the  bird  foot  clover; 
and  iujured  it  thrice  as  much,  when  infested 
With  that  grass,  owing  to  the  effect  of  gypsum 
on  its  growth,  which  is  such,  that  this  species 
of  clover  among  the  plastered  wheat  will  be 
three  or  four  fold  more  luxuriant,  than  among 
the  adjoining  unplastered.  But  the  land  is 
so  considerably  benefitted  by  this  plastering 
of  wheat,  that  in  several  instances,  I  have  seen 
intervals  of  ten  yards  wide  across  large  fields, 


l'5&  €TJXMrFBROTTS  CROPt, 

where  it  was  omitted  for  experiments,  exhi- 
biting tbr  several  years  afterwards  a  decided 
Inferiority  of  soil.  Besides  it  produces  the 
highly  valuable  effects  of  causing  the  clover 
seed  sown  on  the  surface  of  the  wheat  to  sprout, 
grow  and  stand  drought  better,  and  of  doub- 
ling or  trebling  its  crop  the  year  succeeding 
the  wheat,  either  for  cutting,  or  for  the  more 
beneficial  purpose  of  falling  on  the  land. 

To  preserve  or  improve  any  species  of 
wheat,  a  selection  by  hand  must  be  annually 
made,  with  which  to  commence  a  new  slock  of 
seed. 


fivecmLEjn*  crops.  157 


NUMBER  38. 


SUCCULENT  CHOPS. 

The  trials  I  Lave  made  of  this  family,  have 
resulted  in  the  rejection  of  the  whole,  an  in- 
dividual excepted,  as  possessing  hut  little  va- 
lue except  for  culinary  purposes  ;  and  the  re- 
marks I  may  make,  denying-  them   to  be  ob- 
jects otherwise  valuable,  are  to  be  understood, 
as  admitting  their  high  usefulness  as  food  for 
man,  in  respect  to  his  comfort,   to  his  health, 
and    to   economy.       But,  pumpkins   except- 
ed, none  of  them  have  in  my  experience  pro- 
duced profit,  used  in  any  other  mode.     I  have 
long  and  patiently  persevered  in  trials  of  the 
turnip  and  potatoe,  according  to  every  mode 
1  could  collect  from  European  books.     The 
former  are  extremely  precarious,  sown  broad- 
cast, and  extremely  troublesome,  drilled,  thin- 
ned, ploughed  and  twice   hand  hoed  ;  a  pro- 
cess necessary  to  obtain  a  tolerable  chance  for 
a  great  crop.     They  are  a  food  so  little  nutri- 
tious, that  some  animals  die  confined  to  them, 
none  fatten  without  an   additional  food,  and 
all  eat  an  enormous  quantity,  so  as  seriously 
to  enhance  the  labour  of  feeding.     They  are 
great  exhausters  of  land,  perhaps  the  greatest 
and  so  far  have  I  failed  in  preventing  this  ef- 
fect, by  taking  up  the  turnips  i»  the  fall,  that 
it  was  quite  visible  in  lands   similarly  manur- 
ed adjoining  the  turnips,  both  in  straight   and 
crooked   lines.      Nor  have  I  discovered  the 
great  benefit  said  to  be  experienced  in  Europe 
of  feeding  the  turnips  on  the  ground  by  sheep 
o. 


158  STTOCUtENT  CROP*. 

in  folds  removable  every  twenty-four  or  forty- 
eight  hours. 

The  potatoe  is  by  no  means  so  precarious 
nor  exhausting  a  crop  as  the  turnip,  althougk 
it  participates  in  no  very  small  degree  of  both 
qualities.  The  objections  to  it  are  the  great 
quantity  of  seed  to  an  acre  necessary  to  be 
preserved  through  the  winter,  aud  used  in  the 
spring  ;  the  tediousness  of  planting  and  ga- 
thering ;  and  the  poorness  of  the  food.  Be- 
fore 1  had  seen  Young's  experiments,  I  had 
found  that  hogs  would  die  on  them,  raw  or 
boiled,  and  ascribed  it  to  the  inability  of  the 
climate  to  bring  them  to  perfection  ;  but  he 
proves  the  fact  in  England  to  be  the  same* 
It  is  true  that  horned  cattle  will  thrive  well  on 
a  liberal  allowance  of  potatoes,  attended  plen- 
tifully with  good  hay  ;  but  they  would  thrive 
on  the  hay  alone,  nor  do  my  experiments 
prove  that  the  potatoe  is  the  cheapest  additi- 
onal food. 

The  pumpkin  on  the  contrary  in  several  res 
pects  seems  to  me  to  be  preferable  to  it. — The 
expences  of  seed,  of  planting  and  of  ga- 
thering, are  very  wide  apart.  The  labour  of 
eultivation  is  nearly  the  same.  The  pumpkin 
crop  is  less  uncertain,  and  far  heavier  to  an 
acre.  Probably  a  pound  of  pumpkin  may  af- 
ford less  nutriment  than  so  much  potatoe,  but 
it  is  invariably  healthier,  and  seldom  fails  in 
oombination  with  Indian  corn,  to  dispose  all 
animals  to  fatten  kindly,  and  to  aid  in  advan- 
cing this  end,  so  as  greatly  to  diminish  the  ex-> 
pence.  It  entirely  answers  the  end  of  fodder 
or  hay  in  the  fail  season,  in  fattening  cattle 
and  sheep,  and  enables  the  farmer  to  spare 
his  stock  of  both  ;  a  circumstance  highly  be- 
neficial to  one,  who  does  not  abound  in  those. 


SUCCULENT  CROPS,  159 

articles,  by  enabling  him  to  feed  his  teams 
better,  and  to  save  a  sufficiency  to  allow  them 
enough,  from  the  failure  of  the  clover,  until  the 
new  crop  of  hay  or  fodder  comes  in.  Per-- 
haps  no  circumstance  has  contributed  more 
to  the  impoverishment  of  several  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  than  the  negligence  to  provide  dry 
forage  for  summer,  producing  the  evils  of  a 
loss  of  labour,  of  weakening  the  teams,  and 
©f  ruinous  grazing.  The  pumpkin  with  the 
daily  addition  of  a  few  corn  stalks  thrown  in- 
to the  pens,  is  preferable  to  the  best  hay  or 
fodder  I  ever  tried  ;  and  it  appears  to  me  to 
be  much  less  of  an  impoverisher  than  the  po- 
tatoe  ;  arising,  I  suppose,  from  its  entirely 
covering  the  ground  about  the  last  of  June,  it* 
properly  cultivated. 

My  mode  of  cultivating  it  is  this.     I   select 
the  intended  number  of  acres  in   the  proposed 
corn  field  of  the  ensuing  year,  where  the  land 
is  infested  with  some  plant,  proposed    to  be 
destroyed  by  culture  for  two  successive  years, 
and  by  the  impenetrable  shade  of  the  pump- 
kin vine  during  the  first.    In   the  winter  the 
ridges  are  cleaned  by  four  furrows    run  as 
deep  as    four   horses  can    manage   a   large 
plough,  throwing  the  moiety  of  each  into  the 
old  water  furrow  ;  and  I   make  a  new  water 
furrow  wide  and  deep  where  the  centre  of  the 
ridge  lay. — In  the   latter  end  of  March,  as 
much  manure  as  will  make  the  land  rich    is 
spread  on,  and  the  ridges  are  restored  by  simi- 
lar foHr  furrows  to  their  first  position,  agree- 
ing with  that  of  those   for  the  ensuing  year's 
corn    field.     If   the  land    is  stiff,    a    second 
ploughing  with  a  small  plough  may  be  neces- 
sary to  pulverize  it.     The  pumpkins  are  plan- 
ted in  the  mode  of  planting  corn,  at  five  feet 


160  SFCCUIENT    •E0P9. 

and  a  half  distance  in  the  direction  of  the  rid- 
ges, and  two  feet  nine  inches  across  them. 
They  receive  one  deep  ploughing,  the  ridges 
are  raised  high  and  the  water  furrows  made 
deep  and  w  ide  ;  the  plants  whilst  tender  are 
defended  against  a  small  bug  ;  and  the  ground 
is  kept  clean  until  the  vines  begin  to  over- 
spread it.     One  plant  only  is  left  in  a  place. 

The  custom  of  sprinkling  pumpkins  over 
eorn  fields,  scatters  the  crop  so,  that  the  la- 
bour of  its  collection  exceeds  its  value.  By 
giving  them  more  room,  the  fruit  will  be  lar- 
ger, but  the  product  less.  As  soon  as  they 
begin  to  ripen,  their  use  should  commence  near 
their  residence,  to  save  the  labour  of  a  distant 
removal.  In  this  use  they  may  be  made  con- 
siderably subservient  to  manuring,  by  penning 
the  animals  fed  on  them.  The  remnant  must 
be  gathered  before  frost,  and  deposited  about 
three  feet  high  in  a  stack  made  of  corn  tops 
in  the  common  form,  convenient  to  the  pump- 
kins, open  at  both  ends,  and  their  use  rapidly 
continued  to  avoid  risque. 

Indian  corn  dry  or  boiled  alternately,  is  the 
best  food  to  be  united  with  the  pumpkins  which 
I  have  tried.  The  pumpkins  are  fed  raw, 
chopped  by  broad  hatchets  in  troughs,  and  ea- 
ten ravenously.  They  produce  a  great  saving 
of  grain,  and  an  entire  saving  of  dry  forage,  a 
considerable  addition  to  the  meat,  milk,  and 
butter,  and  some  increase  of  manure. 


LEGUMINOUS  CROF&  161 

NUMBER  39* 


LEGUMINOUS    CROPS': 


Indian  corn  must  be  recognised  as  the 
prince  of  this  family,  if  it  belongs  to  it.  No 
individual  of  the  whole  tribe  can  compare  with 
it  for  meal,  malt,  fodder,  and  litter.  In  Eng*- 
land,  where  sundry  of  its  cognominal  relatives 
are  highly  celebrated  as  fallow  crops,  their 
ehief  merit  consists  in  preparing  the  ground 
for  wheat,  or  for  some  other  culmiferous  crop. 
It  was  never  imagined,  that  the  least  competi- 
tion as  to  value  existed  between  the  fallow 
•rop  and  its  successor ;  and  the  great  doubt 
has  been,  whether  a  naked  fallow  or  a  fallow 
•rop  ought  to  be  preferred.  Young  decides 
for  the  latter,  on  account  of  the  profit  result- 
ing from  the  succulents  or  legumes  used  as 
fallow  crops  there ;  and  his  arguments  are 
tripled  in  weight,  by  the  triple  value  of  Indian 
•orn  used  as  a  fallow  crop  here. 

It  results  that  I  reject  the  succulents  and 
legumes  resorted  to  in  England  as  fallow 
•rops,  and  prefer  the  maize  for  that  purpose  ; 
wherefore  in  the  previous  chapter,  the  first 
kave  not  been  considered  in  that  character, 
nor  will  the  latter  be  so  in  this. 

But  I  shall  advert  to  legumes  as  a  valuable 
food  for  man,  not  sufficiently  attended  to, 
whilst  I  admit  that  in  every  other  view,  inclu- 
ding the  danger  ol  destruction  from  accident, 
they  arc  inferior  to  maize  ;  and  that  even  ia 
tins,  they  arc  rather  to  be  considered  as  its 
coadjutor  than  rival. 

Amjmg  them,  the  pea  is  selected  as  cove*.* 


162  lEGrmxors  ckoR. 

ing  most  individuals,  and  most  fitted  to  our 
climate.  Four  gallons  of  dry  peas  annually, 
will  add  inconceivably  to  the  health,  strength 
and  comfort  of  a  laborer,  if  prepared  by  good 
boiling  with  salt  meat  of  any  kind.  The  ru- 
inous state  of  our  country  affords  but  too  much 
space  to  raise  peas  without  much  exponce  of 
skill  or  labour.  In  the  shifts  of  most  of  our 
farms  there  is  no  scarcity  of  poor  land.  Such 
ought  never  to  be  sown  with  wheat  or  any  other 
oulmiferous  grain,  because  they  will  produce 
no  profit,  and  because  severe  exhausters  as 
they  are,  must  be  excluded  from  land  already 
exhausted,  under  any  system  of  agriculture 
which  medidates  its  improvement.  A  portion 
of  such  land  may  fee  selected,  sufficient  to  pro- 
duce four  gallons  of  dry  peas  for  each  resident 
on  the  farm  of  all  ages,  exclusive  of  what  they 
may  gather  and  use  at  their  will  in  a  green 
state,  to  be  planted  among  corn  at  the  distance 
of  five  feet  and  a  half  square,  the  distance  also 
of  the  corn.  Of  this,  one  stalk  only  is  left  in 
each  bill.  The  ground  is  ridged,  ploughed 
but  one  way,  and  both  crops  are  planted  in  the 
direction  of  the  ridges.  It  remains  without 
producing  any  other  crop  (these  two  excepted 
growing  together)  inclosed,  ungrazed, in  deep 
furrows  and  high  ridges  running  North  and 
South,  until  Che  revolution  of  the  course  of 
culture,  which  consists  of  four  years  is  com- 
pleted ;  and  is  very  much  improved.  It  is 
more  so  if  aided  bv  a  bushel  of  gypsum  to  the 
acre.  This  poor  land  thus  treated,  is  render- 
ed more  productive  than  as  usually  managed, 
and  the  object  of  its  improvement  is  accelera- 
ted by  such  a  culture  beyond  what  would  be 
obtained  by  a  state  of  perfect  idleness. 
If  circumstances,  prevent  this  course,  the 


1EGUMIN0US  CROTPS.  163 

peas  arc  raised  in  the  same  mode  with  pump- 
kins on  a  portion  of  the  intended  corn  field  of 
the  following  year, where  noxious  plants  are  to 
be  eradicated,  equally  enriched,  and  similarly 
culticaled  ;  except  that  the  labour  is  very 
much  le  ssened  by  the  use  of  a  weeding  plough 
called  a  skimmer.  They  are  drilled  by  the 
hand  as  thick  as  the  common  garden  pea,  in  a 
shallow  furrow  on  the  summit  of  the  ridges, 
and  covered  with  the  hand  hoe.  If  the  land  is 
rich,  they  will  cover  the  whole  ground,  so 
that  little  is  lost  by  the  distance,  required  in 
reference  to  the  succeeding  corn  crop  ;  and  a 
small  spot  of  laud  will  produce  the  necessary 
quantity. 

The  best  kind  of  pea  for  the  end  in  view, 
(which  is  extremely  important  to  a  well  ma- 
naged fa rn  )  known  to  me,  is  white  with  black 
eyes.  But  as  there  are  many  peas  which  an- 
swer this  description,  besides  a  great  number 
of  others,  the  reader  must  be  referred  to  his 
.own  experience  or  enquiries  for  the  necessary 
selection. 


16i  LITE    STOCK, 

NUMBER  49. 

LIVE    STOCi. 

Among  the  queries  proposed  by  the  Rich- 
mond Society  to  awaken  the  dormant  science 
of  agriculture,  the  eighth  is  so  propounded  as 
to  admit  that  which  I  deny,  *•  that  keeping  a 
large  stock  and  inclosing  to  improve  land  by 
excluding  stock,  are  rival  and  incompatible 
systems.*'  I  shall  therefore  consider  this  ad- 
mission as  a  prevalent  opinion,  which  power- 
fully combats,  and  extensively  retards  a  sys- 
tem upon  which  the  regeneration  of  our  lands 
possibly  depends. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  keeping  a  stock, 
equal  at  least  to  the  whole  grass,  produced 
both  by  the  arable  and  meadow  grounds  of  the 
farm,  and  not  the  inclosing  system,  has  gene- 
rally prevailed  ;  and  therefore  as  such  a  stock 
is  not  only  a  large  one,  but  the  largest  eapable 
of  being  kept,  it  follows,  that  one  of  the  expe- 
riments of  the  proposed  comparison,  has  been 
completely  tried  in  Virginia. 

And  what  is  the  result  ?  It  is  found  by  com- 
puting the  consequences  reaped  by  Virginia, 
from  her  system  of  keeping  these  enormous 
stocks  ;  enormous  iu  proportion  to  their  food. 
She  exports  neither  meat,  butter  nor  cheese. 
She  is  unable  to  raise  as  much  of  either  as  she 
consumes.  She  cannot  breed  a  sufficiency  of 
draft  animals,  for  her  own  use.  And  after 
having  ruined  her  lands  by  grazing,  so  far 
from  deriving  a  profit  from  it.  she  is  obliged 
to  deduct  annually  a  considerable  sum  from 
the  profits  of  her  agriculture,  wretched  as  it 


LIVE    STOCK.  ioT' 

is,  to  supply  the  deficiencies  of  her  more 
wretched  system  of  grazing.  If  it  is  a  fact, 
that  hinds  will  sink  under  a  system  of  oppres- 
sive taxation  hy  crops,  is  it  not  conceivable 
that  they  will  also  sink  under  excessive  gra- 
zing ?  And  if  by  flopping  them  less,  more 
bread  can  be  rawed,  may  it  not  follow,  that 
metre  meat  way  also  be  raised  by  grazing  them 
less  ?  Fertility  is  as  necessary  a  requisite  for 
raising  stocks  as  for  raising  bread,  and  what- 
ever will  produce  it,  is  a  harbinger  of  both  ;  a 
system  of  grazing  therefore,  which  impove- 
rishes a  country,  is  as  likely  to  terminate  in 
large  stocks,  as  a  system  of  culture  having 
the  same  effect,  in  large  crops. 

The  opinion  "  that  by  calling  in  the  aid  of 
inclosing  to  recover  the  lost  fertility,  of  the 
country,  we  must  sacrifice  our  stocks,'*  defeats 
its  own  object  ;  stocks  depend  as  intimately 
upon  this  recovery,  as  bread  stuff;  and  are  iu 
fact  unattainable  without  it,  except  by  a  vast 
depopulation  of  the  country,  to  make  up  the 
loss  of  food  for  stucks,  occasioned  by  the  im- 
poverishment of  the  land,  by  extending  the 
space  of  their  range. 

It  was  hardly  to  be  expected,  that  a  good 
system  of  grazing  would  have  been  found  iu 
union  with  an  execrable  system  of  agriculture, 
and  therefore,  instead  of  enquiring  whether 
we  ought  to  sacrifice,  our  mode  of  tillage  to 
raising  stock,  or  our  mode  of  raising  stock  to 
oar  mode  of  tillage*  the  true  question  proba- 
bly is,  whether  we  ought  not  to  abandon  both, 
because  both  modes  obviously  impoverish 
our  lands,  and  gradually  diminish  both  crops 
and  stocks. 

In  Britain,  generally,  arable  lands  are  not 
grazed,  though  grazing  is  pursued  probably  to 
U. 


t€$  LIVE     STOCK. 

an  injurious  excess.  There,  meadows,  natu- 
ral or  artificial,  and  well  turfed  standing  pas- 
tures, are  prepared  and  used  for  grazing  ;  and 
if  these  precautious  are  useful  to  a  moist  cli- 
mate and  a  rich  soil,  they  cannot  he  dispensed 
with  by  a  dry  climate  aud. a  poor  soil. 

To  raise  large  stocks,  we  must  first  raise 
large  meadows  and  rich  pastures,  defended  by 
a  sod  both  sufficient  to  withstand  the  hoof  and 
the  tooth,  and  capable  of  becoming  richer  un- 
der their  attacks.  If  any  local  difficulties  in 
effecting  this  are  discerned,  they  point  directly 
to  another  view  of  the  subject.  Supposing 
that  raising  large  stocks  and  inclosing  arable 
lanas  against  grazing,  were  really  incompati- 
ble objects,  our  attention  is  of  course  turned 
towards  our  climate  and  soil,  for  the  purpose 
©f  making  the  election  ;  and  it  is  very  obvious 
thata  warm  dry  ciimate  and  a  sandy  soil,  ought 
not  to  make  the  same  choice,  with  a  climate 
cool  and  moist,  and  a  clay  soil. 

Still  those  who  have  to  struggle  with  natu- 
ral disadvantages  in  raising  slocks,  will  not 
find  them  insurmountable,  so  far  as  it  is  their 
interest  to  surmount  them,  if  they  will  resort 
to  the  very  system  for  fertilizing  their  lands, 
mpposed  to  obstruct  the  object.  This  system 
itself  requires  strong  teams,  meat  for  labour- 
ers, and  stock  sufficient  to  consume  the  offal 
of  all  the  crops.  Inclosing  is  only  a  coadjutor 
to  manuring,  and  had  it  excluded  the  means 
for  ihe  latter,  it  would  have  excluded  a  more 
valuable  object  than  itself.  So  far  from  it, 
that  it  vastly  advances  those  means,  by  a  re- 
gular, and  ultimately  a  great  increase  of  crops, 
and  consequently  of  litter,  offal,  and  stocks. 

Suppose  a  farm  under  the    system  recom- 
mended in  these  essays,  to  Lave  trebled  its 


hrvE  stock,  167 

crop?  on  the  ^ame  fields  in  twelve  years — if 
the  whole  additional  crop  thus  gained  was  de- 
voted to  stocks,  is  it  not  certain  that  it  would 
support  far  greater,  than  the  same  farm  could 
do  in  its  grazed  state?  Is  it  not  also  obvious, 
that  the  off.il  of  this  treble  crop,  will  support 
a  stock  \hveo  timos  as  large  through  the  win- 
ter, as  the  offal  of  one  third  of  it  :  and  that  the 
three  fold  crop  of  grain,  will  admit  of  large 
drafts  for  the  still  farther  increase  of  stocks, 
whilst  one  third  of  such  a  crop,  might  admit 
of  no  such  contribution  ?  The  supposition  is  a 
fact.  It  may  be  fan  her  discerned,  that  as  t  he 
crops  bv  tin*  aore  increase,  the  space  cultiva- 
ted may  be  gradually  diminished,  so  as  to  re- 
lease a  portion  of  t  ie  labour  for  the  purposes 
I  raining,  manuring,  ami  raising  artificial 
grasses-;  and  in  tliat  view  constituting  a  dif- 
ferent mode  of  providing  for  stocks,  from  that 
of  grazing  exhausted  arable  lands.  A  glance 
of  intellect  decides  between  the  two  modes. 


16&  XIVE    STOCK. 

NUMBER  41. 

LIVE    STOCK,   COXTIXUJ   It. 

The  grazier  and  the  ploughman  are'eharac- 
U-r.-  so  different,  and  llieii*-  occupations  are  so 
distinct, that  had  these  essays  rela<<  i!  to  a  sys- 
ieui  of  grazing,  *5  Pccuarius*'  ought   to  have 
been  their  signature.     "What   stronger  proof 
can  exist  of  our  agricultural  ignorance,  titan 
a  notion  of  succeeding  in  botfi  lines  at  the  same 
liinr',  by  respectively  violating  i\u-  first  prin- 
ciples of  both.     To  succeed  in  grazing,  it  is 
v  to  cover  the  land  with  a  tin  tig  and 
.   iuri' :  to  succeed  in  agiieulture,  tbisturf 
st    be  destroyed.     Having  destroyed   the 
turfhy  the  plough,  \\e  endeavour  to  prevent 
its   renovation    by  assailing  it  with  the  tooth 
and  the  hoof,  the   instant  ii  germinates;  and 
propose  to  raise   large  stocks  -without  grass, 
and  large  crops  on  land  loo  poor  to  produce  it. 
in  England,  the  ideas  of  promoting  crops  hy 
treadiwg  and  grazing,  and  grazing  hy  plough- 
ing tip  pastures  and  meadows,  would  excite 
great  admiration  :  and  the  general  prohibition 
in  leases  against  the  latter,  discloses  the  dis- 
approbation of  the  system  of  reaping  corn  and 
slocks   annually  from    the   same   land.     The 
Question,  whether  the  business  of, grazing  or 
of* tillage,   is  the  most  profitable,  frequently 
occurs;  but  wlieilser  <lie  same  land  ought  or 
ouglit  not  to   be  exposed  both  to  tillage  and 
grazing-,  is  one  never  made  by  good  husband- 
men.    In  many  parts  of  the  United  States,  the 
distinction  between  tillage  ant!  grazing  is  well 
understood,   and  their  separation  beneficially 


LIVE    STOCK.  169 

practised  ;  but  in  most,  sundry  circumstances 
not  necessary  to  be  adduced,  have  united  these 
occupations  ;  a  union  indispensably  necessary 
to  a  certain  extent  for  tillage,  and  incapable 
of  being  dispensed  with.  It  is  therefore  ne- 
cessary for  me  to  prove,  that  the  system  of 
enclosing  arable  lands,  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
cluding grazing,  is  not  inconsistent  with  the 
stocks  necessary  for  meat,  labour  and  manure, 
beyond  which,  the  occupation  of  tillage  forbids 
their  extension. 

If  meadows  and  well  turfed  pastures,  are 
best  for  grazing,  and  if  by  excluding  grazing 
from  arable  land,  its  product  is  vastly  increas- 
ed, it  follows,  that  we  can  effect  this  union 
not  only  without  injury  to  either  of  the  objects, 
but  so  as  to  advance  the  interest  of  botb,  by 
allotting  proper  portions  of  the  farm  to  each, 
and  managing  such  portions  according  to  the 
principles  indispensably  dictated  by  the  ends 
intended  to  be  produced.  Whereas,  the  prin- 
ciples necessary  to  produce  stocks  or  grain,  be- 
ing not  only  different,  but  exactly  opposed, 
since  we  must  produce  grass  for  one  end,  and 
destroy  it  for  the  other,  by  applying  both  for 
the  same  land,  a  warfare  ensues  which  crip- 
ples, and  finally  kills  both  the  combatants. 

By  thus  appropriating  particular  portions 
of  a  farm,  we  may  manage  each  portion  ac- 
cording to  the  principles  necessary  to  make  it 
more  productive  ;  and  the  productiveness  of 
each,  will  advance  that  ot  the  other.  The 
better  crops  of  grain  we  raise,  the  more  offal 
is  produced,  and  this  offal,  by  furnishing  litter 
and  food  for  stocks,  raises  stocks  sufficient  to 
reduce  it  to  manure  ;  the  chief  means  for  im- 
proving our  pasture,  meadow  and  arable  land. 
An  increase  of  stocks  must  follow  an  inerease 
o. 


170  LIVE    STOCK. 

of  manure,  because  it  begets  an  increase  of 
their  food  and  litter,  just  us  their  decrease  is 
an  inevitable  consequence  of  the  diminution  of 
manure. 

'We  see  that  some  of  the  states.  Virginia 
for  instance,  can  no  longer  raise  meat,  cheese 
or  teams  sufficient  for  home  consumption,  and 
the  cause  of  this  phenomenon  will  illustrate 
my  reasoning.  No  state,  and  probably  no 
agricultural  country,  ever  went  more  tho- 
roughly inio  the  plan  of  grazing  arable  land, 
of  neglecting  meadows  and  permanent  pas- 
lures,  and  of  endowing  their  stocks  with  the 
privilege  of  unlimited  grazing  :  and  the  end  is 
ruin  to  the  stocks  themselves,  as  a  consolation 
for  ruin  to  the  lands.  The  indiscriminate  gra- 
zing is  the  very  cause,  which  is  impoverishing 
both  the  husbandman  and  grazier,  and  the 
greedy  project  of  succeeding  in  both  charac- 
ters, In  extorting  from  the  earth  a  double  con- 
tribution, has  defeated  our  success  in  either. 

Such  a  project  is  as  fatal  to  a  country, 
whose  climate  and  soil  are  not  naturally  adap- 
ted to  the  production  of  glass,  as  an  obstinate 
culture  of  rice  and  cotton,  A>ould  be  to  the 
state  of  ^Massachusetts.  If  therefore  we  are 
to  be  brought  to  the  proposed  computation, the 
election  between  tillage  and  stocks  is  settled 
by  the  consideration  of  soil  and  climate,  as 
thev  may  be  favorable  to  grass,  breadstuff  or 
other  products,  because,  however  we  may 
sometimes  be  able  to  force  nature,  her  sponta- 
neous efforts  on  our  side  are  the  best  sureties 
for  success. 

Let  any  gentleman  for  instance  of  the  bread 
stuff  country  of  the  United  States,  compare 
ihe  profit  he  would  derive  from  doubling  his 
crops  of  grain,  with  that  he  gains  by  keep- 


LIVE     STOCK.  171 

ing  the  largest  stoeks  Within  liis  power.  He 
will  discern,  (hat  such  an  accession  of  annual 
income,  will  generally  oven  exceed  the  whole 
value  of  his  stocks,  instead  of  their  profit ;  and 
if  the  enclosing  system*  aided  by  the  means 
heretofore  explained,  will  rapidly  douhle  his 
crops  of  groin,  the  preference  between  that 
and  it?  rival  i>  determined  ;  and  the  object  of. 
grazing  at  the  expence  of  tillage  in  an  impo- 
verished country,  ought  to  he  ahandoned. 


ir-2  1IVE    STOCK. 

NUMBER  ft% 

LIVE    STOCK,    CCNTIN'CKP. 

If  we  impoverish  our  land  by  grazing  or  til- 
lage, both  stocks  and  crops,  whatever  they 
be,  will  gradually  diminish  :  gradually  be- 
come less  profitable :  and  finally,  insufficient 
to  afford  a  maintenance.  It  is  true  that  some 
bottom  lands  exist,  so  rich,  as  to  bear,  and 
even  improve  under  tillage  and  grazing,  if 
red  clover  is  the  grass  used,  and  if  it  is  suffer- 
ed to  get  well  in  flower  before  the  stocks  are 
turned  on  it.  But  this  is  owing  to  the  extreme 
fatness  of  the  soil,  its  ability  to  cover  itself 
with  a  luxurient  coat  of  clover,  the  accession 
of  vegetable  matter  by  a  great  portion  being 
trodden  on  and  rejected  by  the  cattle,  and  the 
entire  acquisition  of  its  tap  root,  containing 
from  the  size  it  acquires  in  such  land,  no  in- 
considerable quantity  of  the  same  matter. — 
Besides,  land  of  this  quality  is  so  rare,  as  to 
constitute  an  anomaly  entirely  foreign  to  any 
system  of  agriculture  proper  for  the  United 
States.  Very  few  of  us  have  ever  seen  it,  and 
still  fewer  would  profit  from  any  system  built 
upon  its  qualities.  Nay  it  is  a  kind  of  land 
which  hardly  requires  a  system,  and  would  be 
as  prosperous  under  a  bad  one.  as  the  general 
agricultural  state  of  the  country  would  be  un- 
der the  best.  It  is  necessary  however  to  sug- 
gest this  anomalous  ease,  lest  we  should  be 
led  to  reason  from  it.  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
ciding a  different  case.  The  most  zealous  a- 
mor  patrife  will  confess  that  the  United  States 
have  infinitely  less  need  for  a  system  to  iia- 


LIVE    STOCK.  173 

prove  rich,  than  for  one  to  improve  poor  land  : 
and  instead  of  being  blinded  by  its  wishes, 
should  be  enlightened  by  truth,  as  the  only 
mode  of  gratifying  one  of  the  most  amiable  of 
human  passions'. 

The  expanse  of  our  territory,  generally,  is 
dow  in  a  shite  so  far  from  being  able  10  i:n- 
prcve  under  the  double  taxation  of  tillage  and 
grazing;  as  fo  require'  a  revolution  of  our  ha- 
bits to iie.prove  under  either :  and  the  time  has 
come,  when  it  is  equally  necessary  to  discover 
some  mode  of  raising  meat  as  well  as  bread, 
without  impov dishing pur  lands. 

it  is  easj  by  a  good  system  so  wonderfully  to 
alter  the  case,  as  to  make  stocks  profit  ah  re 
simply  from  their  manure,  exclusive  of  the 
labour,  meat,  lal'ow,  leather,  milk  and  butter, 
they  yield.;  and  to  draw  from  them  not  only 
the  entire  means  for  their  own  support,  but  a 
surplus  for  enriching  the  soil.  The  mode  of 
doing  this  has  been  heretofore  explained,  but 
in  older  to  combine  with  it  the  subject  now 
under  consideration,  with  more  perspicuity.  I 
will  take  up  and  consider*  separately,  the  mode 
•f  managing  ea<  h  species  of  our  domestic  a- 
nimals.  usually  comprised  by  the  term  ••  slock,'* 
upon  a  tillage  farm  which  requires  the  nur- 
ture of  inclosing. 

The  working  animals  constitute  a  species  of 
stock  comprising  horses,  mules  and  oxen. — 
The  two  former  ought  to  inhabit  a  lot  having 
h  stable  and  stream,  and  to  he  excluded  whol- 
ly from  grazing.  For  two  months  of  the  a  ear, 
elover  cut  daily,  and  exposed  to  six  hours  syn, 
1  event  the  animal  from  being  hoi  en, should 
!.cir  hay.  Jl  will  add  to  t!i<-ir  health  at 
the  ••«••.. s-Mi  it  comes  in.  After  it  fails,  the  !•■ 
fodder  or  hay.  preserved  for  the  holiest  season, 


17*  LIVE    STOCfe. 

succeeds  it.     Corn  stalks  serve  them  from  tht 
iir>t  of  November,    whilst   they  last,  and  are 
succeeded  by  *he  inferior  tops,  bladps  or  bay. 
By  littering  the  stables  and  yards  well  in  win- 
ter, they  will  make  manure  sufficing  to  enrich 
more  land  than   will   produce  their  corn  ;  as 
this  enrichment  is  not  exhausted  by  one  crop, 
and  as  clover,  proper  cultivation,  and  inclosing 
will  preserve,  and  farther  improve   the  land, 
the  working  stock  exclusive  of  its  labour,  sub- 
scribes largely  to  the  renovation  of  the    soil 
instead  of  its  impoverishment  by  pasturing. 
The  considerations  of  saving  ihe  labour  of  col- 
lecting the   working  animals  from   pastu: 
and  avoiding  the  loss   of  the  morning,  so  ma- 
terial in  a  warm  climate,  are  inferior,  hut  ad- 
ditional recommendations  of  the  same  system. 
The  oxen  in  summer  should  be  penned  and 
fed  separately  from  the  other  cattle,  aud  in 
winter  the  same  separation  should  take  place, 
with  a  more  comfortable  cover.     They  will 
furnish  the  same  supply  of  manure  as  the  hor- 
ses and  mules  in  winter,  and  more  in  summer 
from  the  removal  of  their  pen.  calculated  t© 
stand    not   beyond  ten    days.     Whilst  not  at 
work,  they  may  be  pastured  with  the   Mher 
cattle. 


LIVE    STOCK.  17* 

NUMBER  is. 

livy    STOCK,   CONTINUED. 

The  horned  cattle  are  happily  able  to  en- 
counter the  hardships  indicted  on  them  by  t!ie 
impoverish  me  nt  of  our  country  These  will 
Li*  graduallydecrcased  >y  enriching  it.  Their 
food  Lor  half  the  year  consists  o!'  tue  coarse 
oifal  of  bread  grain  in  much  of  the  greater 
portion  of  the  United  S;,it-s,  and  a  system 
vrhieli  will  ine tease  sueh  crops,  will  increase 
their  food  during  t!i<a  seasja  of  the  year, 
-when  they  suffer  most,  and  perish  in  great 
numbers,  besides  affording  them  a  chance 
from  i;s  greater:  plenty/,  of  participating  more 
copiously  of  thf^grain  itself.  S  ich  an  increase 
of  staple  crops.  1)  >.;<"'-  eapit  il  a  id  rele  ises  la- 
b  mr,  for  draining  improvements  :  and  s  icedily 
points  at  swamps  and  marshes  ofasoil,  capa- 
ble in  general  of  being  mule  on*3  bra  1 Ired  Fold 
more  productive  in  grass,  than  our  exhaust  d 
lields.  Meadows  thus  growtout  ofc  the  enclos- 
ing system,  if  that  system  increases  th«  staple 
crops,  and  are  a  retribution  with  aceuja  il.it- 
iug  interest  to  the  stack.  for  the  loss  of  naked 
fields.  This  retribution  extends  to  both  fall 
and  winter.  Meadows  should  be  cut  for  hay, 
and  grazed  with  horned  eat  lie,  after  the  se- 
cond crop  has  arrived  to  iis  most  lu\arient 
state.  So  far  from  being  deteriorated  by  it, 
they  -are  improved,  produce  cleaner  and  lar- 
ger crops  of  hay.  are  longer  defended  against 
(he  intrusion  of  weeds,  bushes  and  coaroe 
grasses,  and  finally,  when  tillage  becomes  at* 
eessar  y  for  cleansing  they^  their  state  for  re* 


176  XIVE    STOCK. 

ceivlng  it  will  be  belter,  and  the  crop  enbanc 
ed. 

By  the  increased  oftal  of  increased  crops, 
and  by  the  hay  of  these  meadows,  stocks  will 
be  better7  provided  for  during  the  winter,  than 
under  the  unlimited  grazing  system  j  to  which 
add  the  grazing  of  the  after  math  of  the  mea- 
dows, and  (his  superior  provision  is  extended 
to  about  eight  months  of  the  year.  Between 
three  and  four  months  of  spring  and  summer, 
pasturage  only  remains  to  be  supplied.  An 
abundant  resource  for  this  is  one  effect  of  un- 
limited grazing,  and  our  greatest  agrarian  ca- 
lamity. Vast  tracts  of  exhausted  country  are 
every  where  turned  out,  or  left  unindorsed,  to 
recover  what  heart  they  can  in  their  own  way  : 
and  ibeir  progress  in  (ha!  effort  is  accelerated 
by  enclosing  them  as  pasturage  for  eaKle  a- 
lone,  or  at  least  excluding  hogs.  Such  fields 
presently  produce  shrubs  and  coarse  grass, 
and  lands  never  chared,  may  be  inclosed  with 
them,  as  auxi.iaries.  Together,  (hey  v>i!l 
constitute  a  pasture  for  cattle,  far  better  in  the 
spring  and  summer,  than  that  generally  af- 
forded by  arable  lands*  which  in  (he  maize 
country  of  the  United  States,  are  particularly 
scanty  ofgras's  until  towards  the  fall,  and  (hen 
the  superior  resource  of  the  meadow  grazing  is 
provided  by  the  system  of  enclosing. 

Jt  would  be  too  alarming,  to  subjoin  to  these 
reasoniugs  (and  probably  by  its  strangeness 
might  destroy  (hem  all)  the  idea  of  manur- 
ing a  spacious  highland  meadow,  as  a  farther 
auxiliary  (o  the  inclosing  system  ;  and  there- 
fore it  will  be  deferred  until  crops  are  trebled 
by  it.  But  it  is  indispensab  y  necessary  to 
point  out  in  what  way  this  system  is  prepar- 
ed, to  satisfy  those  cravings  which  cannot  be 
deferred. 


1TVE    STOCK.  177 

As  crops  increase  in  a  warm  and  poor  coun- 
try, no  department  will  more  suddenly  expe- 
rience an  improvement  than  that  of  the  table. 
As  to  beef,  it  is  received  from  the  after  math 
of  the  meadow,  by  the  pumpkin,  and  Indian 
»orn,  the  corn  sta'ks  succeed  the  pumpkins, 
and  it  is  finished  in  March  on  corn  and  hay. 
In  the  interim  the  knife  is  at  work  and  the 
manure  is  accumulating.  During  the  mode- 
rate weather  after  leaving  the  meadow  for 
the  pumpkins,  the  beeves  are  penned  on  suc- 
cessive spots  and  not  littered,  the  plough  suc- 
ceeding the  removal  of  the  pen.  When  the 
stalks  come  in  they  are  placed  in  their  stati- 
onary  winter's  habitation,  and  copiously  lit- 
tered. And  with  proper  management,  the 
manure  thus  raised,  overpays  the  expence  of 
fattening  them.  The  additional  advantage  of 
milk  and  butter  is  derived  from  fattening  for 
beef  the  old  cows  yielding  milk,  through  the 
winter.  They  may  be  often  made  fine  meat, 
and  will  at  least  be  a  valuable  acquisition  to 
the  stock  of  salt  provisions  for  the  labourers, 
instead  of  being  devoted  to  their  common  fate 
in  a  premature  age,  by  want  of  food. 

The  best  and  cheapest  mode  of  raising 
ealvos,  and  of  fattening  lambs,  I  have  ever 
tried,  is  also  suggested  by  the  inclosing  sys- 
tem. It  is  that  of  folding  them  on  red  clover 
from  about  the  twentieth  of  April,  or  from  the 
•lover's  becoming  three  or  four  inches  high  ; 
tne  calves  until  frost.  Small  common  fence 
rails,  and  the  common  crooked  fences,  make 
folds  with  less  labour  .:<{    hettr»-  flan 

any  I  have,  tried.  This  pen  oughi  never  t» 
stand  longer  than  three  days.  i-»  which  t  me  it 
Might  to  he  graaed  ch-siu.  .'t  H  stands  loo<?-«-p, 
the  grasft  is  injured  bv  treacin^.     When  it  i§ 


fffl  LIVE    STOCK. 

to  be  remove'],  the  calves  and  steep  are  con* 
lined  in  a  cornet-  next  to  rue  new  pen,  by  using 
some  of  the  top  rails.     An  acre  of*  line  clover, 
unless  it  is  disabled  !)v  drought*  v\  i  1 J  sjraze  ten 
calves,  ten   cues  and  ten  lambs,  through  the 
grass  season,  allowing  for  the  gradual  remo- 
val of  the  sheep,  all  of  v,  Uich  ought  to  be  kill- 
ed.    To  make  them  good  meat,  they  must:  be 
allowed  other  food.     Wash  of  c-orn  meal,  or 
well  boiled  corn  itself,  is  the  best  and  cheapest 
I  have  tried.     The  acre  will  be  frequently  fed 
over  without   destroying  the  clover,  and  the 
laud  will  be  improved.     Calves  will    make  a 
1   imbursement  with  a  proOt  for  this  mode  of 
raising  them,    by    their    superior    value  he- 
ld those   raised   in  the   common   wav,  and 
by    surrendering  at  an  early  age  their  mo- 
ther's miik.     And  its  economy  is  increased 
by  selecting  annually  the   old  ewes  and  their 
lambs  for  fattening,  comprising  so  many,  as 
that  a  portion  of  the  latter  and  all  the  former 
may  be  be.stov.cd  on  the  slaves.     By  harvest, 
lambs  have  grown  too  large  and  coarse  for  the 
table,  and  the  e^es  have  become  good  mutton. 
The  mother  should  die  within  three  days  of 
the  Ian  b.   or   she  falls  off.     Both  furnish  a 
supply  of  excellent  food  at  that  laborious  sea- 
son ;  and  as  to  have  good  lanibs  we  must  make 
their  mothers  fat,  the  luxury  of  the  master  be- 
stows" a  luxury  on  the  slaves,  wilhoyt  an  ad- 
ditional expenee,  and  undoubtedly  with  more 
economy,   than  to  devote  such   sheep  to  their 
usual  destiny.     These  old  ewes  thus  maiK  : 
yield  line  lambs,  much  wool,  good  mutton,  and 
hides  able  to  bear  tanning  for  the  purpose  of 
making  pads  for  the  ba^k  Lands  of  the  plough 
horses  to  pas*  through. 


SHEEP.  ±79 

NUMBER  **» 


SHEER, 

It  is  with  reluctance  that  T  am  about  to  ex- 
press my  opinions  as  to  this  stock.,  lest  they 
may  discredit  those  upon  subjects  concern* 
ing  which  I  have  had  more  experience.  For 
sixteen  years  1  have  laboured  to  estimate  their 
value  and  character,  upon  a  small  scale,  hav- 
ing a  llock  only  of  from  one  to  four  hundred, 
daily  attended  by  a  shepherd ;  and  my  conclu- 
sions are,  that  they  require  and  consume  far 
more  food,  in  proportion  to  their  size,  than 
any  other  stock,  that  they  are  more  liable  to 
disease  and  death,  and  that  they  cannot  be 
made  a  profitable  object,  throughout  the  whole 
extent  of  the  warm  dry  climate,  and  sandy 
soil  of  the  United  States,  but  by  banishing  til- 
lage from  vast  tracts  of  country.  These  opi- 
nions are  by  no  means  intended  however  to 
exclude  them  as  a  luxury  for  the  table,  capa- 
ble of  being  made  to  repay  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  the  expence  it  causes. 

It  is  probable  that  the  hot  constitution  of 
sheep,  produces  a  rapid  digestion,  and  that  in- 
satiable appetite,  by  which  the  fact  is  account- 
ed for,  of  their  flourishing  only  to  any  extent 
in  tine  meadows  or  extensive  wildernesses.  If 
-  voratiou  not  gratified,  the  animal 

perishes  or  dwindles  :  if  it  is,  he  depopulates 
the  country  he  inhabits.  The  sheep  of  Spain 
have  probably  kept  out  of  existence,  or  sent 
out  of  it.  more  people  than  the  wild  beasts  of 
the  earth  have  destroyed  from  the  creation  ; 
And  those  ef  England  may  have  taused  a  giea-t* 


180  stf«EP. 

er  depopulation,  than  all  her  extravagant 
wars.  It  may  be  owing  to  this  animal  that 
the  independence  of  one  country  is  almost 
overthrown,  and  of  the  other  tottering,  hi 
both  countries  the  sufficiency  of  bread  for 
sheep,  may  have  produced  this  insufficiency  of 
bread  for  man,  and  prejudice  may  have  nur- 
tured errors,  of  which  our  folly  may  relieve 
them,  just  as  superstition  has  been  known  to 
seize  or  steal  an  idol*  which  had  long  been  a 
eurse  fo  the  place  of  its  invention.  It  is  ad- 
mitted that  the  wool  of  sheep  is  to  a  certain 
extent  a  necessary,  and  often  a  luxury  ;  hut 
if  I  fancied  a  pearl,  why  should  I  dive  for  it 
myself,  when  those  who  love  the  employment, 
wish  to  supply  me  ;  or  why  should  a  nation  de- 
populate itself  to  gain  them,  if  it  ean  become 
strong  and  populous  without  pearls  ?  The 
earth's  capacity  to  prodaoe  food  and  materials 
for  elothes  is  limitetf,  ami  by  endowing  the 
brute  creation  with  so  much  of  the  former,  as 
to  produce  a  deficit  for  man's  use,  in  order  to 
obtain  a  surplus  of  the  latter  for  exportation, 
the  sheep  policy  is  said  to  be  perfected.  It  is 
probable  that  an  acre  of  the  proper  soil  in  the 
proper  climate,  is  capable  of  raising  ten  times 
as  much  cotton  wool,  as-  sheep's,  and  if  we 
shall  only  glance  at  the  vast  quantity  of  the 
former  material  for  clothing,  exported  from  a 
small  district  of  country,  thinly  peopled,  we 
shall  at  once  see  the  capacity  of  tin*  earth  to 
produce  it  to  any  needful  extent,  without  pay- 
ing depopulation  Cor  raiment.  Altho'  sheep's 
wool  was  the  best  resource  for  a  state  of  ig- 
norance, it  is  superceded  to  a  great  extent  by 
a  state  of  cotton  manufacturing  skill;  and 
whilst  theEnglish nation  have  proved  the  high 
ya-ltre  of  our  volton>  and  opened  an  iuexhaust^ 


sn«EP.  181 

ble  demand  for  the  abundance  we  can  spare,  it 
is  certainlv  a  responsible  hostage  for  the  small 
portion  of  her  woollens  we  may  want  :  and  an 
exchange  is  probably  better  than  turning  our 
torn  fields  into  sheep  pastures.  It  is  exactly 
the  ease  in  which  commerce  renders  a  mutual 
benefit, as  we  under  our  warm  and  dry  climate, 
and  in  our  sandy  soil,  can  raise  eotton  cheaper 
than  England  :  and  she  by  the  help  of  her 
moisture  and  verdure,  can  raise  wool  cheaper 
than  the  United  States.  It  is  curious  that 
wool  should  be  supplanting  cotton  here,  whilst 
cotton  is  supplanting  wool  in  Europe:  but  as 
fashions  wear  out  in  one  country  they  flee  to 
another. 

.Their  manure  is  the  chief  recompenee  for 
the  expence  of  sheep,  and  worth  more  than 
their  wool  if  they  are  regularly  penned.  It  is 
true,  that  this  will  insomedegree  injure  them, 
but  it  is  indispensable,  unless  by  surrendering-' to 
them  a  power  of  grazing  at  will,  the  calami- 
tous alternative  of  speedily  reducing  the  farm 
to  a  barren  is  resorted  to. 

Moveable  pens  as  in  the  ease  of  cattle,  are 
best  in  the  warm  seasons  of  the  year  ;  in  the 
cold,  a  farm  pen  shelter  also,  open  to  the  south, 
and  elosed  to  the  ground  towards  the  other 
three  cardinal  points,  will  suffice  to  the  39th 
degree  of  North  latitude.  This  pen  should 
be  regularly  littered  with  stalks,  straw  orlit^ 
ter  of  any  kind. 

Under  the  system  of  enclosing,  the  sheep> 
may  be  managed  like  horned  e;tttle,  except 
that  they  must  be  better  fed.  For  this  pur- 
pose they  ought  to  be  attended  by  a  shepherd, 
that  besides  the  grazing  allowed  to  the  cat- 
tle, they  may  be  treated  with  such  parts  of 
the  enclosed  erea,  as  they  may  benefit  or  not 
o. 


i&2  sJMCEP. 

injure.  Of  the  first  description,  are  grounds 
infested  with  the  garlick,  over  which  the  sheep 
should  he  rapidly  carried  after  it  has  headed* 
to  eat  its  seed  ;  of  the  second,  the  hanks  of 
rivers,  rivulets  or  woodland.  In  winter,  thef 
sheep  will  cat  every  thing,  and  the  hettcr  the 
ibod  the  more  they  will  thrive.  A  great 
quantity  of  corn,  caught  soft  hy  frost,  most  of 
which  hecame  quite  black,  and  all  of  it  such 
as  to  he  refused  hy  hogs,  was  greedily  eaten 
by  sheep  ;  and  the  supply  heing  copious,  made 
t«he  hest  flock  I  ever  saw.  In  winter,  their 
farm  pen  is  made  in  the  field  to  he  cultivated 
"in  corn  the  following  summer,  ia  which  field 
the  sheep  are  then  allowed  daily  to  feed  under 
the  superintendance  of  the  sliepherd.  Being 
covered  with  the  dry  litter  of  clover,  the  little 
grass  they  get  under  it  is  of  some  service  to 
x  he  m.  and  the  litter  itself  is  more  eon\eniently 
disposed  for  the  plough  hy  being  trodden 
down? 


NUMBER  4#, 


HOGS. 

Few  animals  do  us  more  real  mischief,  and 
suffer  more  unmerited  reproach  than  these.. — 
They  are  the  cause  of  dead  wood  fenees,  which 
render  more  lahour  unproductive,  than  any 
item  of  the  long  agricultural  catalogue  of 
practices,  portrayed  in  the  miserable  counte- 
nance of  our  country.  A  consumption  of  la*- 
bour  in  making  ephemeral  fences,  which  might 
be  employed  in  making  food,  clothing  orJast- 
ing  improvements,  is  a  cheek  upon  population 
even  greater  than  the  English  and  Spanish 
sheep  system  ;■  hut  if  we  add  to  it,  the  impo- 
verishment of  land,  and  waste  of  herbage,  by 
the  eradicating  licence  legally  conferred  on 
hogs,  it  will  require  hut  a  small  portion  of 
prophetic  skill  to  anticipate  the  impeachment 
of  our  agricultural  system,  to  be  gradually 
pronounced  by  the  census.  We  shall  however 
long  struggle  against  the  admonitions  of  this 
unerring  logician,  by  assigning  to  the  allure- 
ments of  a  wilderness,  emigrations  resulting 
from  a  policy  and  a  system,  incapable  of  with- 
standing these  allurements,  compared  with  all 
the  benefits  of  our  cultivation.  Our  system 
of  agriculture  is  felt  as  a  greater  evil  than  no> 
system.  A  country  wanting  people  with  ac- 
tual tillage  on  its  side,  is  robbed  of  a  great 
portion  of  the  few  it  has,  by  one  exposed  to 
every  evil  except  our  agricultural  system. — 
But  we  ascribe  the  expulsions  caused  by  its 
impoverishment  to  the  attractions  of  putrefy- 
ing forests,  of  an  exposure  to  all  weather,  of 


innumerable  hardships  and  of  Indian  scalping 
knives,  and  lose  the  faeulty  of  seeing  their 
cause  where  we  tread,  by  ascribing  it  to  ima- 
ginary notions. 

The  destruction  of  wood  and  timber,  pro- 
duced by  the  mode  of  raising  hogs  according 
to  law,  exclusive  of  the  depopulation  it  advan- 
ces, is  itself  a  calamity  grievous  in  all  quarters 
but  ruinous  to  those  unpossessed  of  coal  f Jr 
fuel  and  stone  for  fencing.  This  destruction 
increases  in  a  ratio  correspondent  to  the  di- 
minution of  our  means  to  bear  it  j  because  the 
young  wood  and  timber  used  for  fences,  fuel 
and  building,  is  more  subject  to  decay  than 
the  old  ;  and  a  perseverance  in  prejudice  can- 
not be  more  amply  displayed,  than  by  an  ex- 
pectation of  resisting  with  tender  saplings,  a 
practice  which  has  demolished  the  tough  fo- 
rests of  oak. 

All  the  calamities  arising  from  fences  of 
dead  wood,  are  ascribed  to  these  ill-fated  ani- 
mals, as  if  they  had  themselves  forced  upon 
us  the  system  which  has  produced  these  cala- 
mines ;  just  as  the  impoverishment  of  our 
lands  is  ascribed  to  Indian  Corn,  as  if  that  had 
dictated  the  system  of  agriculture  bv  which  it 
is  effected.  But  it  is  neither  new,  nor  unna- 
tural, to  mistake  our  best  benefactors  for  our 
worst  enemies. 

Yet  a  single  question  refutes  the  calumny. 
Did  the  bogs  enact  the  laws,  by  which  they 
are  turned  loose,  without  rings  in  the  nose,  or 
yokes  on  the  neck  to  root  out  the  herbage,  and 
assail  the  inclosures  2  Had  they  been  legisla- 
tors, self  interest  (allowing  them  wisdom) 
would  have  suggested  to  them  a  mode  of  com- 
ing at  subsistence,  infinitely  better  than  one, 
by  which  they  are  exposed  to  disasters, 'lun- 
ger, poverty  and  assassination. 


iroGsr.  1S5 

Excluding  from  the  argument  all  the  mis- 
chiefs flowing  from  the  system  of  raising  hogs 
introduced  by  law,  and  confining  the  question 
simply  to  the  mutual  interest  of  the  hog  and 
his  owner  in  the  points  of  comfort,  profit  and 
plenty,  we  gain  conviction  of  its  imperfection, 
by  placing  it  on  its  strongest  ground. 

Meat  is  the  end  in  view.  JVo  animal  fur- 
nishes hotter  than  the  hog.  If  there  i9  any 
other  which  will  furuish  more  at  less  expenee> 
in  a  dry  country,  or  which  possesses  more  eon- 
gruity  with  Indian  Corn,  where  that  is  the 
chief  fund  for  subsistence,  it  ought  to  be  pre- 
fered  ;  if  not,  the  hog  deserves  more  attention 
than  he  has  hitherto  received.  In  the  maize 
country,  the  existence  of  no  such  animal  is 
admitted,  by  the  general  recourse  to  the  hog 
as  the  chief  resource  for  meat ;  and  thcjfirsf! 
question  is,  whether  he  is  made  to  answer  the 
purpose  for  which  he  has  been  thus  selected* 

The  fact  is  too  notorious  to  require  proof. 
The  maize  Atlantic  districts  raise  an  insuffi- 
ciency of  meat  for  their  own  consumption,  by 
means  of  an  animal  selected  on  account  of  his 
peculiar  fitness  for  the  object.  A  failure  in 
the  object  with  the  best  means  of  attaining  it, 
is  the  strongest  evidence  of  the  misapplication 
of  those  means. 

Though  this  supply  of  meat  from  hogs  is 
insufficient,  it  is  yet  considerable,  and  far  ex- 
ceeding the  quantity  furnished  by  all  other 
animals.  But  it  is  still  considered  by  a  pe- 
cuniary computation  as  an  unprofitable  busi- 
ness to  raise  them.  If  there  is  any  foundati- 
on fortius  opinion,  drawn  from  a  computation 
which  excludes  all  the  mischiefs  arising  from 
dead  fences,  it  determines  the  mode  of  raising 
ihem  to  be  excessively  erroneous\ 


18§  BOS^ 

This  pecuniary  loss  must  arise  from  fhe 
mode  of  raising  them,  in  those  districts  where 
hogs  are  the  best  resource  for  meat,  unless  we 
suppose  that  nature  has  treated  the^e  districts 
with  such  severity,  as  to  provide  no  animal  to 
supply  a  moderate  comfort.,  except  at  an  ex- 
penee  which  must  exclude  a  great  number  of 
people  from  its  use.  And  as  Uus  supposition 
cannot  be  admitted,  the  evil  c  ght 

for  in  this  mode,  where  it  will  fl  in  the 

disasters  of  the  hogs,  the  inattention  of  their 
owners,  the  badness  and  of  their 

food.  And  the  mean  quality  of  their  meat,  I 
shall  therefore  attempt  in  the  next  number,  to 
point  out  a  different  one,  more  profitable  to 
the  owner,  more  comfortable  to  the  animal, 
and  entirely  exempt  from  the  ruinous  vice  of 
*>peFating  as  an  exclusion  <#'  live  fences* 


'HOGS.  1ST 

NUMBER  A6^ 

3IOGS,   COXTZN'Vl 

Xo  domestic  animal  multiplies  equally* 
grows  as  rapidly,  is  as  thrifty,  makes  as  good 
salt  meat,  is  as  hardy,  as  healthy,  as  docile,  or 
eats  as  little  in  proportion  to  size  as  the  hog. 
A  mode  of  raising  him  which  takes  advantage 
©fall  these  qualities,  designating  him  as  the 
best  resource  for  meat,  is  a  subject  worthy  of 
particular  attention,  and  would  he  a  great  im- 
provement. My  experience  is  inconsiderable, 
and  my  knowledge  limited  in  relation  to  it. 
But  I  shall  give  the  result  of  the  former,  with- 
out deviating  into  conjecture,  or  recurring  to 
books.  Indeed,  as  neither  distilleries  nor  dai- 
lies, constitute  any  resource  for  the  country 
within  my  >  iew,  little  aid  could  be  extracted 
from  the  latter. 

Indian  corn,  clover  and  pumpkins,  are  my 
only  resources  for  raising  hogs.  They  are 
raised  within  the  enclosure  of  a  farm  having 
no  cross  fences,  regularly  eonfiued  in  a  pen  of 
nights,  and  suffered  to  run  at  large  in  the  day, 
in  that  portion  of  the  farm,  designed  for  In- 
dian corn  the  succeeding  year.  The  farm  is 
divided  into  four  shifts,  the  greater  part  of 
each  being  left  in  red  clover  after  wheat,  sa 
that  a  shift  during  the  last  year  of  its  rest,  is 
well  covered.  The  injury  to  clover  by  hogs 
from  grazing,  is  infinitely  lass  than  that  from 
any  other  animal.  No  number  necessary  for 
domestic  consumption  will  materially  affect 
the  field  exposed  to  "in  this  mode.  Twenty 
skeep.  would  injure  h  wore  than  an  hundred 


iSS  HOGS. 

hogs*  And  to  prevent  rooting,  iron  rings  of 
the  size  and  shape  of  a  large  one  for  the  fin- 
ger, are  constantly  kept  in  the  eartilege  of  the 
nose. 

Until  the  pumpkins  come  in,  the  hogs  sub- 
sist by  grazing,  with  an  allowance  of  shatter- 
ed Indian  corn,  sufficing  to  keep  the  sows  ha- 
ving pigs,  in  tolerable  heart ;  other  hogs  will 
become  very  fat  upon  the  same  allowance. 
As  soon  as  the  pumpkins  are  ripe  the  whole 
family  are  confined  to  the  pen,  and  fed  with  as 
many  as  they  will  cat,  cut  up  in  troughs,  be- 
sides a  full  meal  of  sound  corn  daily,  raw  or 
boiled  as  their  appetite  fluctuates.  And  those 
for  slaughter  are  fed  with  corn  about  ten 
days  aft  er  the  pumpkins  are  expended,  to  har- 
den and  flavour  the  meat. 

By  removing  the  pen  "with  regularity,  and 
ploughing  it  up,  as  in  the  case  of  cattle,  hogs 
will  in  my  judgment  manure  land  to  the  value 
of  the  whole  cxpence  of  raising  them  ;  and 
instead  of  contributing  to  the  ruin  of  the  coun- 
try by  eradicating  herbage,  and  compelling 
farmers  to  reject  live  fences  ;  contribute  to 
its  renovation  by  their  manure. 

The  whole  stock  exceeding  nine  months  old, 
except  a  male  and  two  or  three  females,  is 
killed  annually.  If  a  species  is  selected  which 
breeds  young,  and  gains  its  growth  quickly, 
the  litters  between  the  fii  >t  of  June  and  the 
first  of  March,  will  furnish  an  abundance  of 
progeny  for  the  second  killing  time.  Their 
mothers  will  make  fat  and  email, and  the  males 
fat  and  large  meat  for  the  first.  These  pigs 
are  aeetlcrated  in  growth,  by  being  suffered  to 
$bare  in  a!l  the  luxuries  of  the  large  hogs,  un- 
less it  may  happen  to  be  necessary  td  wean  a 
litter  occasfctfiaih/,  to  gain  time  for  recover- 


HOGS*  1S8 

ing  the  flesh  of  its  mother.  And  the  annual 
clearance  of  nearly  all  the  old  hogs,  is  a  mat- 
ter of  considerable  economy,  because  the  ex- 
pence  is  thereby  diminished  to  a  great  extent, 
for  above  half  ttie  year,  by  having  young  ones 
only  to  sustain. 

The  mischiefs  from  hogs  allowed  such  li- 
cence, is  the  chief  objection  to  be  expected 
to  this  mode  of  raising  then.  I  know  not  of 
any  agricultural,  mechanical  or  scientifical 
object  of  m"  h  v:  ic..  attainable  Without  effort 
or  skill.  fine      gree    of  both,    and    but  a 

small  one,  is  nc  -sary  to  avoid  this  objection. 
The  ho-  ugh:  -hilst  young,  to  be  made 
quite  gentle.  1  ;s  are  as  docile  as  puppies. 
They  will  not  bt  inclined  to  wander  far  from 
their  feeding  p<  in  a  ii«  d  of  red  clover,  if 
care  is  taken  to  cure  for  them  an  access  to 
water  ;  and  a  si.  .11  boy  v  ilh  a  whip  will  find 
it  an  easy  task  t(  lisciplh.e  them  out  of  any 
sueh  inclination.  Notemptati  solicit  stbem 
at  most  seasons  of  tne  year,  a  I  should  ':;y 
occasionally  light  upon  on<  so  irresiai,)!  !e  as 
to  render  them  troublesome,  the;,  mi  r-bei  on- 
fined  in  their  pen,  until  it  is  past,  or  they  are 
weaned  from  it. 

Hogs  are  sufficiently  bar*  fob- art;  wea- 
ther, without  injury  for  eight  months  oi  tUe 
year  ;  a  warm  cover  is  necessary  for  them 
during  the  other  four  This  is  easily  made 
and  removed  by  four  forks  let  two  feet  i..to 
the  earth,  the  t  .  iv.  front  eight  feet,  and  the 
two  in  rear  two  fee  bove  it,  baying  a  secure 
roof  of  stalks  and  St.  laid  on  poles,  and  the 
rear  and  tivo  sides  c  perfectly  close  by  tvn 

eourses  of  rails, one  ,.        :  ig  against  the  fori    , 
and   the  other  agaiust  stakes  two   feet  froi^ 
them  all  around,  with  the  interval  filled  tight 

17. 


190  HOGS. 

with  ?traw.  The  front  is  open  to  the  South, 
and  a  diameter  of  ten  feet  each  tray,  uill  form 
a  comfortable  cover  for  a  large  stock  of  hogs. 
Small  warm  huts  of  a  similar  construction 
for  the  separate  use  of  each  sow  about  to  pig 
in  cold  weather,  is  a  precaution  most  useful, 
and  much  neglected.  Without  it.  the  greater 
part  of  the  litters  will  be  lost.  And  such 
losses  diminish  considerably  the  profit  arising 
from  a  system,  an  article  of  which  is  to  com- 
pensate by  number,  for  the  size  of  hogs  brought 
old  to  the  knife. 


HOG*.  191 

NUMBER  47. 

HOGS,  COKTIKUED. 

The  reader  will  discern,  that  I  consider  a- 
griculture  as  a  felo  de  se.  As  leading  herself 
to  the  altar,  and  inflicting  her  own  death,  not 
with  the  dispatch  dictated  by  humanity  even 
in  killing  a  ho™,  hut  by  repeated  strokes  upon 
every  part  of  her  body.  By  laws  of  her  own 
making,  she  has  quartered  upon  herself  trihes 
of  factitious  capitalists.  By  laws  of  her  own 
making,  she  has  adopted  the  police  of  ming- 
ling free  blacks  and  slaves,  mutually  exciting 
each  other  to  rebellion,  teaching  one  class  the 
trade  of  living  upon  herself  by  theft  without 
labour,  and  instilling  into  the  othera  hatred  of 
her  duties.  She  spontaneously  hires  overseers 
not  to  improve,  but  to  exhaust  her  laud,  with 
the  wisdom  of  a  saint  who  should  expect  to 
advance  true  religion,  hy  hiring  a  priesthood 
to  preach  and  practice  idolatry.  And  she  clo- 
ses her  6ysteni  by  a  mode  of  raising  hogs, 
which  burdens  her  defective  labour  with  the 
incumbrance  of  dead  and  decaying  fences  ; 
which  aids  the  overseers  in  substituting  a 
wrong  for  a  right  culture  ;  and  which  has  al- 
ready caused  a  deficiency  of  meat,  requiring 
supplies  from  the  western  country;  supplies 
destined  to  fail  by  an  imitation  of  the  system 
of  agriculture,  which  rendered  them  necessa- 
ry. 

As  these  evils  united,  are  obviously  killing 
our  lands,  any  one  will  cripple  them,  and 
therefore  a  successful  effort  to  remove  any 
one,  isnot  unimportant.     If  legislatures  shoilii 


life  noGS.- 

persevere  in  wounding  agriculture  Lt  endow- 
ing hogs  with  a  right  of  unlimited  emigration* 
•to  and  fro.  and  exposing  them  to  the  usual  eon- 
sequences  of  licentiousness,  namely,  poverty, 
disease  and  death  ;  yet  agriculture  may  he  so 
far  favored,  as  to  procure  some  small  allevia- 
tion of  the  pains  and  penalties  thus  inflicted  on 
her.  If  hogs  were  prohibited  from  going  at 
large,  except  with  a  ring  in  the  cartilege  of 
the  nose,  and  a  yoke  with  three  projecting 
wings  of  six  inches  long,  one  at  top  and  one  at 
each  side,  thes;.*  pains  and  penalties  would  be 
vastly  diminished.  The  ring,  besides  putting 
an  end  to  the  eradication  of  herbage,  would 
counteract  the  use  of  the  nose  us  a  wedge  able 
to  pierce  the  best  live  fences,  and  the  wings 
would  powerfully  contribute  to  the  same  end. 

But  this  remedy  would  reach  a  portion  only 
of  the  evil  we  are  considering,  and  will  leave 
in  full  operation  the  present  expensive  and  ia- 
sufficient  mode  of  raising  meat.  By  prohibit- 
ing hogs  from  running  at  large,  we  should  he 
compelled  to  recur  to  a  new  mode,  which  might 
possibly  be  more  adequate  to  our  wants.  To 
form  a  correct  opinion,  it  behoves  us  to  reflect 
upon  the  present  mode  of  raising  hogs,  and  to 
contrast  it  with  that  proposed,  or  with  more 
promising  suggestions.  Our  subject  is  closed 
with  a  specimen  of  this  mode  of  reasoning. 

By  the  present  mode  of  raising  hog-;,  vast 
quantities  of  wood  and  timber  are  annually  de- 
stroyed ;  by  the  proposed,  none  will  be  de- 
jti'oyed. 

By  the  present  mode,  mueh  labour  is  lost  in 
making  mouldering  fenoes  ;  by  the  proposed, 
the  inhibition  on  live  fences  being  removed, 
much  will  be  saved. 

By  the  present  mode,  one  half  of  tlje  pigs 


HOGS.  193 

antl  hogs  perish,  and  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  residue  are  stolen  ;  so  that  less  than  half 
come  to  the  knife  ;  by  the  proposed,  few  will 
perish,  fewer  will  be  stolen,  and  a  double  sup- 
ply of  meat  may  be  expected. 

By  the  present  mode  a  great  proportion  of 
the  meat  is  lean  and  dry ;  by  the  proposed, 
most  of  it  will  be  fat  and  juicy. 

By  the  present  mode,  corn,  generally  hard, 
being  chiefly  relied  on  to  raise  and  fatten 
bogs,  much  is  used  and  much  is  wasted  ;  by 
the  proposed,  the  use  of  the  pumpkins  and  clo- 
ver, vastly  lessens  the  use  of  corn,  and  dimin- 
ishes the  expence,  whilst  itenereases  the  meat. 

By  the  present  mode,  no  return  for  the  food 
is  made  by  the  hog,  but  that  of  his  carcase; 
by  the  proposed,  he  will  pay  for  it,  and  in  my 
opinion,  more  than  pay  for  it,  by  his  manure. 
If  this  is  wholly  true,  his  meat  paid  for  by  the 
present  mode  at  a  price  so  exorbitant,  as  to  in- 
duce some  farmers  to  buy,  rather  than  to  raise 
it,  will  be  gotten  for  nothing  ;  ii  partially, 
this  single  consideration  may  at  least  reduce 
the  cost,  far  below  the  usual  price. 

The  value  of  the  clover  to  hogs  is  demon- 
strated by  the  fact,  that  (sews  giving  suck  ex- 
cepted) they  will  thrive  and  grow  on  it  alone 
if  allowed  to  run  at  large  ;  and  yet  make  but  a 
small  impression  on  the  crop.  The  addition 
of  corn  recommended,  is  necessary  for  these 
sows,  and  highly  improves  the  other  hogs.  It 
is  indispensable  to  gentle  and  lure  all  to  the 
pen  at  night.  Clover  cut  and  given  green  to 
hogs  in  a  pen,  will  be  eaten  greedily,  and  vet 
the  hogs  will  fall  off,  and  would  I  think  finally 
perish  ;  nor  is  it  by  any  means  so  efficacious, 
united  with  other  food,  as  if  gathered  by  the 
animal  himself — ^Note  E.] 
o. 


ifi  SUCCESSION  OF   CROPS, 

NUMBER  48. 

SUCCESSION   OF  CROPS,. 

This  idea,  according  to  the  theory  of  ma- 
nures advanced  in  several  former  Bumbers  of 
these  essays,  must  contain  much  error,  and  all 
its  truth  must  be  limited  to  the  simple  facts, 
that  the  cultivation  of  one  crop  will  clean  and 
pulverize  the  ground  for  the  reception  of  an- 
other, and  that  some  crops  will  produce  these 
effects  better  than  others,  either  as  requiring 
more  cultivation,  like  tobaeco ;  as  killing  grass 
and  weeds  by  shade,  like  the  pea  and  pumpkin ; 
or  as  rendering  the  earth  more  friable,  like 
thepotatoe.  But  an  opinion  that  thoearth  can 
be  enriched  by  an  annual  succession  of  crops, 
will  blast  every  hope  of  its  improvement,  if 
this  can  only  be  effected  by  manure  ;  because 
all  will  prefer  the  ease  and  profit  of  annual  til- 
lage, as  a  mode  of  fertilizing  the  earth,  to  the 
labour  and  delay  of  resting  land,  reducing 
tough  swards,  and  raising  and  applying  ma- 
nure. 

In  England,  a  thorough  manuring  of  ground 
already  rich,  every-  five  or  six  years,  is  allow- 
ed by  all  authors  to  be  indispensably  necessa- 
ry to  fulfil  the  promises  of  a  succession  of 
crops  ;  what  then  have  we  to  hope  from  a  suc- 
cession of  crops  applied  to  ground  already  poor 
without  this  sex-ennial  manuring  ?  In  our 
gardens  a  succession  of  crops  is  seldom  consi- 
dered as  a  necessary  aid  to  annual  manuring. 
Draw  from  the  earth  as  you  will  it  never  fails, 
if  replenished  annually  with  atmospherical 
matter ;  let  your  rotation  of  crops  be  what  it 


succession  or  croP&.'  195 

will,  it  never  lasts,  if  tins  replenishment  is 
withheld.  Industrious  effort,  and  not  lazy  the. 
ory,  can  only  save  our  ruining  country. 

Trust  not  to  the  delusive  promises  of  a  rota- 
tion of  crops  for  restoring  our  soil.  It  will 
aggravate  the  evil  it  pretends  to  remove.  It 
is  a  remedy  which  will  be  greedily  seized  upon 
by  the  annual  prime  ministers  of  a  Southern 
farm,  whose  tenure  is  precarious,  and  whose 
object  is  sudden  income  ;  and  they  will  with 
joy  abandon  the  labour  of  manuring  and  im- 
proving for  prospective*  to  gain  the  bribe  of 
immediate  profit. 

This  disposition  is  so  ruinous  already,  that 
I  have  known  an  owner  with  very  imperfect 
management,  to  manure  annually  ten  times 
more  with  equal  means  at  the  place  of  his  re- 
sidence, than  on  a  farm  some  miles  distant  en- 
trusted to  an  overseer.  Money  wages  is  one 
mode  of  curing  an  evil  sufficient  without  an 
ally  to  ruin  our  country.  But  to  give  this  re- 
medy effect  the  apocryphal  opinion  of  reco-« 
vering  our  lands  by  a  succession  of  crops, 
ought  to  be  driven  out  by  the  more  solid  reli- 
ance upon  manuring  and  enclosing. 

Our  funds  for  manuring  are  sufficient  to  em- 
ploy all  our  energies,  and  if  our  energies  were 
employed  sufficiently  to  exclude  all  worn  out 
kind  for  cultivation,  and  to  produce  the  Sex- 
ennial supply  of  manure,  without  which  a  ro- 
tation of  crops  will  be  delusive,  and  pernicious 
effects  would  follow  as  far  surpassing  in  use- 
fulness those  of  mere  rotation  theory,  as  the 
Atlantic  ocean  surpasses  in  extent  the  lake  of 
Geneva.  Many  of  these  funds  of  manure,  rea- 
dy to  pay  the  drafts  of  industry,  have  been- 
heretofore  noticed  ;  more  perhaps  are  over- 
looked.     They   are   scattered  every   where. 


196  succession  or  crops. 

around  us  ;  and  Providence  has  blest  our  shak 
low  soil  with  a  capacity  of  suddenly  throwing, 
up  thickets,  constituting  a  bountiful  provision 
for  manuring  and  curing  galls  and  gullies.     I 
have  tried  this  vegetable  manure  by  strewing 
the  whole  surface,  by  packing  it  green  in  large 
furrows  and  covering  it  with  the  plough,  by 
packing  it  in  such  furrows  in  the  same  state, 
and  leaving  it  to  be  covered  with  the  plough 
three  years  afterwards,  and  by  covering  it  as 
soon  as  the  leaves  were  perfectly  dry,  sowing 
it  previously  with  plaster.     Each  experiment 
of  which    the  result  is  determined,  is  highly 
gratifying.     The  last  on  nearly  a  caput   mor- 
luum  of  a  galled  and  gravelly  hill    side,  exhi- 
bits good  corn  planted  over  the  bushes,  as  soon 
as  they  were  covered.     It  is  in  vain  to  begin 
at  the  wrong  end  to  improve  our  system  of 
Agriculture.     Fertility  of  soil  alone  can  give 
success  to  ingenious  theories.     These  applied 
to  barrenness  at  best  resemble  only  the  beau- 
tiful calculations  of  a  speculator,  who  demon- 
strates a  mode  of  making  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars from  a  capital  of  an  hundred  thousand,  to 
a  man  worth  only  an  hundred  cents.     The  ca- 
pital must  precede  the  profit. 

Manuring  only  can  recover  this  capital,  so 
much  of  which  is  already  wasted  by  bad  hus- 
bandry. It  is  the  great  object  to  be  impress* 
cd,  and  all  its  modes  should  be  tried.  When 
that  has  provided  a  fund  for  experiment,  and 
an  excitement  to  ingenuity,  by  presenting  to 
industry  and  genius  a  fertile  area,  the  time 
will  have  arrived  for  exploring  the  more  re- 
condite principles  of  Agriculture,  and  descend- 
ing to  the  diminutives  of  improvement. 

The  effect  of  manuring  and  enclosing  unit- 
ed in  stopping  gullies  and  curing  galls,    is  a£ 


SUCCESSION  OF  CHOPS.  19J? 

hundred  fold  greater*  than  the  most  ingenious 
mechanical  contrivance.  Land  filled  with 
roots,  covered  with  litter,  aided  by  buried  hu- 
shes forming  covered  drains,  protected  against 
the  vounds  of  swine  and  hoofs,  and  replenish- 
ed sex-enmally  with  the  coarse  manure  of  the 
farm  and  stable  yards,  will  not  wash. — Under 
such  management,  the  bottoms  of  the  gullies 
will  throw  up  a  growth  capable  of  arresting 
whatever  matters  the  waters  shall  eonvey 
from  the  higher  lands,  soon  become  the  rich- 
est parts  of  the  field,  and  thenceforth  gradu- 
ally fill  up.  I  hare  long  cultivated  eonsiderar 
hie  gullies  created  by  the  three  shift,  grazing 
and  unmanuring  system,  and  cured  in  this 
mode,  which  produce  the  best  crops,  are  se- 
cured against  w  ashing  by  their  great  fertility, 
and  are  gradually  disappearing  by  deepening 
their  soil. 

A  succession  of  crops  is  utterly  incompe- 
tent to  the  ends  so  neeessary  to  our  lands,  as 
it  will  not  produce  their  ronevation  ;  and  the 
portion  of  truth  the  theory  possesses,  if  it  has 
any,  is  so  inconsiderable,  that  it  will  produce 
the  most  ruinous  errors,  if  it  leads  us  to  be- 
lieve, that  our  efforts  to  manure  them  may  be 
safely  diminished  or  superseded,  by  any  rota- 
tion of  crops,  however  skilful. 


19S  LITE    FENCES. 

NUMBER  49. 

LIVE    FENCES. 

This  subject,  so  extremely  material  to  a 
country  requiring  to  be  raised  from  the  dead, 
by  vast  and  repeated  doses  of  the  only  ge- 
nuine terrene  elixir,  testifies  in  every  quarter 
of  the  U.  States,  to  the  scantiness  of  oar  A- 
gricultural  knowledge  :  and  is  one  of  the  pre- 
sages that  it  is  doomed  to  live  and  die  an  in- 
fant. If  it  is  an  idiot,  its  ease  is  hopeless: 
but  if  it  is  only  a  dunce,  it  must  in  time  dis- 
eern  the  vast  saving  of  labonr  to  be  applied 
to  draining  and  manuring,  the  vast  saving  of 
wood  and  limber  for  fuel  and  building,  and 
the  vast  accession  to  arable,  by  rendering  less 
woodland  necessary,  as  acquisitions  arising 
from  live  fences. 

In  the"  Memoirs  of  the  Agricultural  So- 
eiety  of  Philadelphia,"  several  modes  of  rai- 
sing live  hedges,  suitable  for  different  soils 
and  climates,  are  stated  ar.d  explained.  Two 
volumes  of  these  memoirs  have  been  publish* 
ed.  containing  more  valuable  information  up- 
on the  subject  of  agriculture,  than  any  native 
book  I  have  seen  :  and  if  we  have  no  relish 
for  the  wit.  learning  and  experience,  with 
which  they  abound,  but  little  good  can  be  ex- 
pected from  these  ephemeral  essays.  To  say 
much  upon  a  subject,  copiously  bandied  in  a 
book  which  evc"ry  farmer  ought  to  have,  would 
insinuate  the  existence  of  a  general  apathy 
towards  the  eminent  talents  which  ha\e  pre- 
sided over  and  greatly  contributed  to  its  com- 
position :  to  say  nothing,  would  be  a  neglect 
of  a  subject  of  ih^  utmost  importance; 


LIVE    FENCES.  ±99 

Several  plants  are  mentioned  in  these  me- 
moirs as  proper  for  making  live  fences,  but  I 
shall  confine  my  observations  to  one,  because 
my  knowledge  experimentally,  does  not  ex- 
lend  to  the  others.  The  cedar  is  peculiarly 
fitted  for  the  purpose,  throughout  a  great  dis- 
trict of  the  United  States.  It  throws  out 
bows  near  the  ground,  pliant  and  capable  of 
being  easily  w  oven  into  any  form.  They  gra- 
dually however  become  stiff.  Clipping  will 
make  cedar  hedges  extremely  thick.  No  ani- 
mal  will  injure  them  by  browsing.  Manured 
and  cultivated,  they  come  rapidly  to  perfecti- 
on. The  plants  are  frequently  to  be  found  in 
great  abundance  without  the  trouble  of  raising 
them.  As  an  ever-green  they  are  preferable 
to  deciduous  plants  ;  and  they  live  better  than 
any  young  trees  I  have  ever  tried,  planted  as 
follows : 

From  December  to  the  middle  of  March, 
the  smallest  plants  are  to  be  taken  up  in  a 
sod  of  a  square  conformable  to  the  size  of  the 
spade  used,  as  deep  as  possible,  which  sod  is 
to  be  deposited  unbroken  in  a  hole  as  deep 
made  by  a  similar  spade  ;  the  earth  coining 
out  of  it  being  used  to  fill  up  the  crevices  be- 
tween the  sod  and  the  hole  for  its  reception. 
I  plant  these  cedars  on  the  out  and  inside  of 
a  straight  fence,  on  the  ridge  of  a  ditch,  the 
plants  in  each  row  being  two  feet  apart  both, 
in  the  direction  of  and  across  this  ridge  ;  but 
so  that  the  plants  on  one  side  of  the  fence  will 
be  opposite  to  the  centre  of  the  vacancies  be- 
tween those  on  the  other.  Each  row  will  be 
one  foot  from  the  fence,  so  that  the  top  of  the 
ridge  will  be  about  eight  inches  higher  than 
tin-  position  of  the  plants.  They  should  be 
topt  at  a  foot  high,  and  not  suffered  to  gain 


$00  LITE    FENCES. 

above  three  or  four  i  a  des  yearly  in  height, 
such  boughs  excepted  -an  be  worked  int» 
the  fence  at  the  ground.  Of  these  great  use 
may  be  made  towards  th  ekening  the  hedge, 
by  bending  them  to  the  .- -round,  and  covering 
4hem  well  with  earth  i.  the  middle,  leavi^ 
them  growing  to  the  stem,  and  their  extremi- 
ties exposed.  Thus  they  invariably  take  root 
and  fill  up  gaps.  If  these  hedges  are  cultiva- 
ted properly,  and  the  land  is  strong,  they  will 
ferm  an  elegant  live  ever-green  fence,  in  a 
shorter  time,  than  is  necessary  to  raise  a 
thorn,  fence  in  England,  according  to  the 
books 

But  will  they  keep  out  hogs  ?  I  am  told  by 
travellers  that  few  or  none  of  the  hedges  in 
England  will  do  so.  Yet  hedges  are  both  the 
chief  Agricultural  ornament,  and  most  valua- 
ble improvement  of  that  well  cultivated  coun- 
try. But  hogs  are  not  there  turned  loose  by 
Jaw  to  assail  them.  I  do  however  think  that 
•aerdar  hedge  is  fur  more  capable  of  forming 
a  fenee  against  hogs  than  the  thorn,  because 
one,  as  a  tree,  w  ill  acquire  more  strength  or 
stubbornness  than  the  other,  a  shrub,  can  ever 
reach  7  and  because  the  cedar  is  capable  of 
being  worked  into  a  closer  texture  than  £he 
thorn. 

Yet  the  wedge  like  sneut  of  the  hog,  the 
hardiness  of  his  nature,  and  the  toughness  of 
his  hide,  certainly  exhibit  him  as  a  dan?Tous 
foe  to  live  fences  ;  and  the  resource;  of  "ing» 
ing  aud  yoking  to  coutroul  his  powers  t.  d  Ms 
disposition,  ought  to  be  adverted  to  £01  the 
sake  of  an  iaipravemen1  so  moment .mi.-.-— 
These  ivi:"  rot  shock  our  prejudices  nor  >ior 
late  our  habits*  and  are  supported  by  a  consi- 
deration of  weight,  far  inferior  to  tie  import- 


LTVE    FENCES.  201 

ance  of  hedging ;  and  yet  light  as  it  is,  of 
weight  sufficient  to  justify  the  recommendati- 
on. If  hedges  are  not  protected  against  hogs, 
at  least  four  rows  of  plants,  and  a  double 
width  of  ridge  or  bank  will  be  necessary  ; 
there  must  be  a  double  sized  ditch  to  furnish 
this  earth  ;  a  double  portion  of  land  will  be 
occupied  by  the  hedge  and  ditch  ;  and  more 
than  double  labour,  owing  to  the  inconveni- 
ence arising  from  great  breadth,  will  be  al- 
ways required  to  keep  the  hedge  in  order,. 
Something  less  than  moieties  in  all  these  ca- 
ses will  suffice  for  hedges  capable  of  fencing 
out  every  other  animal,  if  the  legal  rights  of 
iiogs  are  only  modified,  and  besides  the  nar- 
row hedges  will  be  far  more  beautiful. 
[Note  F.] 


II. 


ORCHARDS. 

NUMBER  50. 

ORCHARD*. 

In  our  warm  and  dry  climate..  I  consider 
live  fences  as  the  matrix  for  apple  orchards. 
These  are  the  only  species  of  orchards  at  a 
distance  from  cities,  capable  of  producing  suf- 
ficient profit  and  comfort,  to  hecome  a  consi-' 
derahle  object  to  a  farmer.  Distilling  from 
fruit  is  precarious,  troublesome,  trilling  and 
out  of  his  province.  But  the  apple  will  fur- 
nish some  food  for  his  hogs,  a  luxury  for  hi? 
family  in  winter,  and  a  healthy  liquor  for  him- 
self and  his  labourers  all  the  year.  Indepen- 
dent of  any  surplus  of  cyder  lie  may  spare,  it 
is  an  object  of  solid  profit,  and  easy  acquisiti- 
on. In  lie  Southern  states,  the  premature 
decay  and  death  of  apple  trees,  is  the  chief 
obstacle  to  its  attainment.  And  this  my  ex- 
perience tells  11. e  i->  generally  occasioned  by  a 
stroke  of  the  sun  on  the  body  of  the  tree. — » 
Hedges  in  a  great  variety  of  positions  will  af- 
ford shelter  to  trees  against  this  stroke. 

This  conclusion  has  been  drawn  from  many 

facts,  but  a  siogle  case  only  shall  he  stated. — 

Some  years  past  the  following  experiment  was 

tried.     An  area  of  above  an  acre  was  inclosed 

bv  a  ceder  hedge,  in  the  form  of  a  square, 

wiih  each  side  presented  to  a  cardinal  point  of 

the  compass.     Soon  after,  a  young  apple  or- 

!'d  v  as  planted  on  the  outside  around  the 

feet  from  it,  and  at  twenty  feet 

'  bet  ween  tbe  trees.     The  rad- 

ed  the  bodies  of  the  trees  when  it  could  do  so, 

and  has  been  for   some  years  thick  and  high. 

Not  a  single  tree  has  decayed  or  died  on  the 


OECHARBS.  203 

North  or  East  side  of  it,  many  have  on  the 
West  and  several  on  the  South  ;  and  the  gene- 
ral thriftiucss  of  the  trees  on  the  North  k.  East 
aspects,  greatly  exceeds  that  on  the  two  others. 

If  t!ic  result  of  (his  experiment  can  be  de- 
pended on,  for  uniting  live  fences  and  orchards, 
the  same  culture  will  answer  for  both,  and  a 
vast  saving  of  land,  a  great  saving  of  trees, 
a  great  accession  of  comforts  and  profit,  and 
a  useful  and  ornamental  border  of  roads  will 
ensue.  .  The  same  experiment  tends  to  recom- 
mend low  or  short  bodies,  as  some  preserva- 
tive (or  fruit  trees  against  strokes  of  the  sun. 

Next  to  this  cause  of  the  death  of  apple 
trees,  the  residence  under  and  subsistence  up- 
on the  bark  of  the  bodies  and  roots  below  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  during  winter,  of  the 
field  rat,  has  been  the  most  common.  The  re- 
medy against  this  animal,  perhaps  the  mole 
also,  and  probably  against  the  whole  family  of 
insects,  is  to  dig  away  so  much  of  the  earth 
from  the  roots  near  the  body,  to  remain  open 
during  the  winter,  as  will  make  the  place  too 
uncomfortable  a  residence  for  them,  during 
that  season,  in  which  they  are  most  apt  to  feed 
on  the  bark. 

A  saving  of  much  time  and  trouble,  and  an 
acquisition  of  sounder  trees  would  result  from 
an  easy  practice,  to  Which  I  have  of  late  years 
conformed.  By  earthing  up  the  young  grafts 
gradually  as  they  grow,  to  about  six  inches 
above  the  junction  of  the  slip  and  the  stalk, 
roots  will  invariably  -hoot  out  above  this  junc- 
tion, and  by  cutting  off  the  stalk  just  above  it, 
when  the  young  tree  is  transplanted,  you  get 
rid  of  the  defect  in  its  constitution,  sometimes 
occasioned  by  the  operation  of  engrafting,  and 
what  is  infinitely  more  important,  all  the  sci- 
ons sprouting  up  frora.  its  roots,  during  the- 


>0*  0KCHABB9. 

whole  life  of  the  tree,  will  be  of  the  (me  fruit, 
unci  furnish  spontaneously  and  permanently 
healthier  orchards,  than  can  be  obtained  by 
the  labour  and  art  of  engrafting. 

Good  cyder  would  be  a  national  saving  of 
wealth,  by  expelling  foreign  liquors  :  nnd  of 
life,  by  expelling  the  use  of  ardent  spirits. — 
The  cyder  counties  of  England  are  said  to  ex- 
hibit the  healthiest  population  of  the  king- 
dom. Even  hard  cyder  would  be  a  useful  be- 
verage to  our  slaves.  Reduced  to  vinegar  it 
is  considered  as  a  luxury,  and  allowed  to  be 
wholesome.  But  the  extreme  ignorance  of 
mankind  in  making  eyder  is  demonstrated,  by 
an  uncertainty  whether  the  manufacture  shall 
turn  out  to  be  sweet,  hard  or  sour.  It  ofteu 
happens  that  things  of  most  value  are  not  per- 
fected, because  perfection  is  easily  attainable. 
A  thousand  times  more  ingenuity  has  been  ex- 
pended on  steam  engines,  than  would  have  suf- 
ficed for  discovering  the  best  ir.cdes  of  Agri- 
culture ;  and  the  art  of  making  cyder  is  in  its 
infancy,  whilst  that  of  making  wine  has  been 
brought  to  maturity.  Yet  the  former  liquor 
would  furnish  infinitely  more  comfort  at  in- 
finitely less  expence  to  mankind,  than  the  lat- 
ter, if  the  art  of  making  it  had  been  equally 
perfected. 

It  is  probable  that  a  similarity  exists  in  the 
best  process  for  making  both  liquors,  and  that 
useful  hiuts  may  be  collected  from  the  details 
as  to  wine,  towards  forming  a  process  for  ma- 
king cyder.  From  this  source  I  have  extract- 
ed a  practice,  though  undoubtedly  imperfect, 
yet  tolerably  sufficing  for  family  purposes.  It 
is  this  : 

When  the  fermentation  of  the  must  is  half 
over,  so  that  it  is  considerably  sweeter  than  it 
ought    to  remain,  it   is  drawn  off  (throwing 


ORCHARDS.  205 

away  the  sediment  at  the  bottom  of  the  cask) 
and  boiled  moderately  abont  one  hour  in  a  cop- 
per, during  which  the  impurities  rising  to  the 
top  are  taken  off  by  a  skimmer  with  holes  in 
it,  to  let  the  eydcr  through.  Twelve  eggs  for 
each  thirty  three  gallons,  yolks  and  whites, 
are  heat  up  pouring  gently  to  them  some  of 
the  boiling  cyder,  until  the  mixture  amounts 
to  about  a  gallon.  This  mixture  is  gradually 
poured  into  the  boiling  cyder  and  well  mixed 
with  it,  by  stirring.  It  then  boils  gently  five 
minutes  longer,  when  it  is  returned  hot  into 
the  cask.  In  eight  or  ten  days  it  is  drawn  oft", 
leaving  the  sediment  to  be  thrown  away,  and 
put  into  a  clean  cask,  with  six  quarts  of  rum 
or  brandy  to  thirty-three  gallons.  The  cask  is 
made  completely  full  and  slopt  close.  For  this 
purpose  a  sufficient  provision  of  cyder  must  be 
made.     The  cyder  is  bottled  in  the  spring. 

The  chief  object  in  making  cyder,  must  be 
the  management  of  the  fermentation,  so  as  to 
avail  ourselves  of  the  spirituous  and  avoid  the 
acetous.  In  the  fall  it  is  accomplished  by  the 
above  process.  But  cyder  is  subject  to  a  se- 
cond fermentation  in  the  spring  like  wine, 
which  often  demolishes  bottles  or  ends  in  aci- 
dity. To  manage  this  so  as  to  make  it  keep 
good  in  casks,  is  an  object  highly  desirable, 
hut  which  I  have  not  attempted  to  accomplish. 
Perhaps  it  is  attainable  by  racking  it  offin  the 
spring  and  making  a  second  addition  of  spirit* 
The  simple  process  above  stated,  will  carry  it. 
well  through  the  winter,  and  furnish  good  bot- 
tled cyder  ;  but  it  promises  nothing  more. — 
J»y  cutting  off  the  corks  even  villi  the  bottle, 
and  dipping  its  mouth  in  boiling  pitch,  it  is 
a9  completely  closed,  as  the  best  waxed  bottled 
efaret  or  burgundy. 

o. 


20G  URAIIflNS. 

NUMBER  U. 


DRAINING. 

Prejudices  have  assailed,  and  will  continue 
to  assail,  every  species  of  improvement,  and 
theory  instead  of  experience  w  ill  often  sow 
opinion.  It  is  frequently  believed,  that  drain- 
ing, clearing  and  reducing  to  cultivation  mar- 
shes, bogs  and  swamps,  will  add  to  the  insa- 
lubrity of  the  air,  because  vegetables  feed  up- 
on certain  qualities  of  it,  unfit  for  animal  res- 
piration ;  and  thus  render  it  purer  for  that 
purpose.  But  why  should  we  load  the  atmos- 
phere with  poison,  because  vegetables  will 
absorb  a  portion  of  it  ?  Countries  kept  damp 
by  endless  forests,  though  abounding  in  the 
utmost  degree  with  these  absorbents  of  atmos- 
pherical miasma,  are  peculiarly  unwholesome^ 
and  first  settlers  unexceptionably  become  vic- 
tirn^to  the  fact.  It  proves  tbat  the  air  may- 
be contaminated  beyond  the  purifying  power 
©f  an  entire  vegetable  wilderness,  and  that  a 
reliance  for  its  salubrity  upon  the  eaters  of 
poison,  would  be  equivalent  to  a  reliance  upon 
the  eaters  of  carrion  for  its  purification,  if 
shambles  were  as  extensive  as  bogs.  After 
having  made  the  air  as  pure  as  possible  by 
every  means  in  our  power,  the  vegetable  ehy- 
mistry  by  absorption,  is  a  means  provided  by 
providence,  for  its  last  filter ;  but  to  infer  from 
this  natural  operation,  that  our  efforts  to  ren- 
tier it  purer  by  draining  are  pernicious,  would 
be  an  equivalent  inference  to  the  idea,  that 
the  cultivation  of  the  earth  is  pernicious  be- 
eause  it  is  capable  of  spontaneous  productions. 


DRAINING*.  2e7 

Campania  and  some  other  flat  and  marshy 
districts  of  Italy,  are  recorded  in  history  as 
having  been  made  sj  healthy  and  delightful  ia 
the  flourishing  period  of  the  Roman  Empire 
by  draining,  as  to  have  been  selected  by  the 
opulent  for  country  retirement,  and  splendid 
palaces.  The  drains  neglected  by  the  barba- 
rous conquerors  of  Italy,  have  never  been  re- 
established by  its  modern  inhabitants  ;  and  the 
swamps  and  marshes  have  restored  to  these 
districts  an  uninhabitable  atmosphere,  by  ha  - 
ving  their  waters,  their  trees,  and  their  ver- 
dure restored  to  them. 

As  new  countries  are  cleared  and  ploughed, 
they  become  more  healthy.  The  draining  ef- 
fects of  these  two  operations  exceed  those  of. 
any  other,  and  by  drying  the  earth  very  ex- 
tensively, furnish  the  strongest  evidence  for 
ascertaining  the  effects  of  draining  wetter 
lands.  If  the  healthiness  of  a  country  is  in- 
creased by  these  modes  of  draining,  it  will 
not  be  diminished  by  auxiliary  modes. 

The  connection  between  draining  ordering 
the  earth,  and  human  subsistence,  furnishes  a 
kind  of  argument,  neither  logical  nor  demon- 
strative, and  yet  of  conclusive  force  to  my 
mind.  Can  it  be  believed  that  the  author  of 
creation,  has  committed  the  egregious  blun- 
der, of  exposing  man  to  the  alternative  of  eat- 
ing bad  food,  or  of  breathing  bad  air?  If  not, 
draining  whether  by  the  sun,  the  plough  or 
the  spade,  being  indispensille  to  avoid  the 
first,  cannot  wreck  him  on  the  second  evil. 

From  the  great  improvement,  made  in  the 
health  of  the  Eastern  parts  of  the  Union,  if 
we  may  trust  in  recent  history,  by  Opening 
the  lands  to  the  sun,  and  with  the  plough,  I 
long  since  concluded,   that  this  improvement 


20  S  DSAtviyG. 

would  be  vastlv  extended  by  resorting  to  every 
other  species  of  draining.  And  having  remo- 
ved some  years  past  to  a  farm,  reported  to  be 
extremely  liable  to  bili  f  vera,  I  threw  se- 
veral small  streams  into  deep  ditches,  dried  a 
■wet  road  leading  to  the  hou^p,  by  open  or  co- 
vered drains,  and  cleared  ami  drained  some 
acres  of  springy  swamp,  closely  covered  with 
swamp  wood,  lying  four  or  five  hundred  yards 
south  of  the  house.  The  multitude  of  springs 
in  tills  swamp,  made  deep,  central,  and  double 
lateral  ditches,  entering  into  it  cxery  six  yards 
necessary  throughout  the  ground.  The  la- 
bour was  great,  hut  the  wet  thicket  is  now  a 
clean  dry  meadow.  Perhaps  an  attachment 
to  a  theory  may  have  caused  me  to  imagine, 
that  the  improvement  in  the  healthiness  of  my 
family  and  the  draining  improvements,  have 
kept  pace  \>ith  each  other  ;  but  I  am  under  no 
delusion  in  asserting,  that  the  healthiness  of 
no  part  of  the  world,  aceordiug  to  the  tables 
of  mortality  which  I  have  seen,  has  equal- 
led  it. 

A  very  large  proportion  of  the  country  on 
the  Eastern  vaters  consists  of  level  land, 
swamps,  bogs  and  marshes.  The  first  is 
chieily  cleared  and  exhausted  :  the  two  last 
are  chiefly  in  a  natural  state  :  and  all  generate 
poison  for  want  of  proper  draining  by  the 
plough,  bv  ditches,  and  by  dams,  instead  of 
producing  the  richest  crops  ot  every  kind  tor 
man  and  beast,  of  any  other  part  of  the  coun- 
try, without  infecting  the  air. 

The  swamps,  bogs  and  marshes,  constitute 
one  of  our  best  resources  for  recovering  the 
exhausted  high  lands,  as  furnishing  employ- 
ment for  labour,  and  funds  for  manure  :  to  the 
farmer  they  offer  a  certainty  of  profit,  in  ex- 


DRAINING.  209 

change  for  the  frequency  of  loss  ;  and  to  the 
worn  out  J  and,  an  intermission  of  its  tortures, 
and  a  cure  for  its  wounds. 

If  the  bounties  of  draining  include  an  im- 
provement in  salubrity,  in  subsistence,  in  pro- 
lit,  and  of  exhausted  lands,  they  ought  to  ex- 
cite an  ardour  which  will  presently  leave  be- 
hind the  few  and  plain  remarks  which  I  shall 
make  upon  the  subject  ;  or  at  least  to  awaken 
great  districts  of  country  to  the  facts,  that 
their  best  lauds,  those  capable  of  yielding 
the  most  prolit,  if  not  those,  only  capable,  of 
yielding  any  or  much  prolit  ;  lands  able  to  sup- 
port more  people  than  those  at  present  under 
culture,  lie  wholly  useless  ;  except  it.  may  be 
useful  to  kill  people  who  are  employed  in  kil- 
ling land,  and  thus  shelter  the  survivors  ia 
some  measure  against  the  evils  of  penury. 


£16  DB4<imro. 

NUMBER   52. 

E  3, 

The  simplest  mode  of  draining   is    by  the 
plough,  and  vet  even  this  isrs  nsidera- 

ble  di-tricts  of  fiat,  stiff  and  close  land,  are 
soured  bj  s  water  and  baked  by  the 

sun.  for  want  of  this  plain  operation ; 
increase  labour*  diminish  id  faint 

air.  Sometimes  this  rigid  land,  though  in- 
tended for  Indian  corn,  i*  left  unbroken  thio' 
the  winter,  a  I  ire* 

fur  want  of  a  declivity  to  discharge  it  :  at 
others,  betng  fallowed  level,  the  water  be- 
comes a  menstruum  for  melting dowa  the  soil 
into  a  brick  like  cover,  which  is  srenerally  ren- 
dered excessively  bard  by  the  sun.  before  the 
water  is  evaporated  sufficiently  to  admit  the 
plough.  If  the  glutinous  quality  of  water 
had  not  been  demonstrated  in  the  familiar 
operation  of  brick  making,  it  ought  to  have 
been  instantly  perceived  in  the  case  under  con- 
sideration. This  soil  holds  it  upon  the  sur- 
face with  such  surprising  retentiveness,  as  of- 
ten to  shew  it  in  a  rut  or  some  other  small 
aperture.,  at  a  time  when  the  crop  is  suffering 
by  drought.  Being  naturally  adapted  to  ex- 
tract and  retain  the  gluten  in  water,  a  surface 
is  furmed  which,    obstructs   absorption,    and 

spends    the  water  excessively    exposed   to 
evaporation  :    bo   that  the  fti  r  more 

Thau  those  of  any  other  kinds  of  laud,  both 
from  its  excess  and  deficiency,  under  the  flat 
culture  habit. 

For  bo  lb  these  misfortunes,  draining  is  the 


DRAINING.  211 

only  remedy,  and  in  most  cases  it  can  be  ef- 
fected by  the  plough.  This  will  make  ridges 
and  furrows,  differing  in  their  level  in  propor- 
tion to  the  breadth  of  the  former.  The  wider 
the  ridge,  the  deeper  she  furrow  maybe  made ; 
and  in  ridges  calculated  for  Indian  corn,  of 
five  feet  and  an  half  wide,  the  bottom  of  the 
furrow  may  easily  he  made  fifteen  inches  low- 
er than  the  top  of  the  ridge.  Land  of  the  na- 
ture described,  from  the  worst,  is  capable  by 
skilful  plough-drainings,  of  being  converted 
into  the  host  of  our  soils.  If  a  habit  had  ex- 
isted of  draining  wet  meadow  lands,  first  by 
cutting  lines  of  ditches  from  North  to  South 
over  the  whole  surface  of  the  meadow,  and 
then  by  filling  them  all  up.  in  cutting  the  same 
number  from  East  to  West,  and  so  cutting 
and  tilling  ditches  alternately ;  all  the  ar- 
guments in  favour  of  this  mode  of  draining 
meadows,  would  apply  against  the  only  prac- 
ticable mode  of  draining  cornfields  by  the 
plough  ;  for  the  latter  object  can  only  be  ef- 
fected by  abolishing  the  habit  of  cross  plough- 
ing. 

The  difference  of  the  level  between  the  ridge 
and  the  furrow,  in  almost  every  case,  enables 
us  to  seize  upon  some  descent  in  the  field  (as 
the  smallest  will  suffice)  by  which  to  dispose 
of  tlte  superfluous  moisture.  However  dis- 
tant, a  descent  comes  at  last,  and  adjoining 
land  holders  would  find  a  mutual  benefit  by 
uniting  in  the  operation,  because  stagnant  wa- 
ter on  the  higher  field,  does  an  injury  to  the 
lower,  only  capable  of  being  removed  by  al- 
lowing it  a  passage. 

Supposing  however  the  unusual  ease  of  a 
perfect  level,  essential  benefit  will  yet  accrue 
from  the  proposed  mode  of  draining  by  the. 


DRAINS 

plough.  The  climate  of  the  country  under 
consideration  is  by  no  means  a  Avet  one,  and 
therefore)  even  in  this  case  an  instance  would 
rarely  happen  of  a  fall  of  rain  so  excessive,  as 
to  drench  tl.e  earth, fill  thepropost-d  furrows, 
and  overflow  ihe  ridges  :  because  the  earth  of 
these  ridges  having  been  retrieved  from  a  sa- 
fority  of  moist  u.-e.  keeping  it  in  winter  con- 
stantly unsusceptible  of  an  addition,  and  hav- 
ing heen  rendered  friable  by  lying  in  ridges 
exposed  to  frost,  will  absorb  infinitely  more 
than  the  same  earth  in  its  Sat  compact  state  ; 
furrows  having  passed  below 
the  crust  caused  by  the  union  between  the 
earth  of  the  surface,  and  the  gluciness  of  the 
water,  will  thereby  have  opened  new  channels 
for  absorption  :  and  because  the  capacity  of 
the  furrows  if  properly  constructed,  will  ge- 
nerally or  invariably  be  adequate  to  the  quan- 
tity of  superfluous  wa 

An  infallible   mode  however  of  perfecting 
the  operation  of  by  the  plough,  exists 

unjoining  tc  it  a  dry  ditch,  which  in  no  case 
need  be  above  eighteen  inches  deep,  and  twen- 
ty-four wide  to  be  placed  on  the  ride  of  the 
field  most  proper  for  conveying  off  the  water. 
If  there  i?  anj  descent,  this  ditch  must  run  at 
Foot  :  if  none,  it  must  receive  the  water 
nearest  to.  some  d  to   which   the  ditch 

inued.     In  both  i  ery  fur- 

row of  the  field  must  deliver  its  water  into  the 
ditch. 

Those  readers  who  have  seen   large  flats  of 
close,  wet  land  on  the  Ea-  iter  courses, 

employed  in  killing  teams,  poisoning  the  air, 
and  disappointing  the  hopes  of  the  husband- 
man, will  not  consider  the  suggestions  of  this 
number,  as  useless.     Our  agriculture  is  hard- 


D3AIM3Q.  213 

ly  prepared  for  the  plainest  improvements,  and 

an  attempt  to  introduce  those  of  a  complicated 
nature,  would  of  course  be  unsuccessful.  The 
double  paradox  how  ever  contended  for,  having 
been  the  result  of  experience,  may  safely  be 
referred  to  the  same  tribunal,  with  a  word  or 
tv»o  to  solicit  a  fair  trial.  It  is  asserted  that 
the  flat  surface  in  the  kind  of  soil  I  have  been 
speaking  of,  will  produce  (he  evils,  both  of  too 
much  and  too  little  moisture  ;  and  that  the 
high  ridges  and  deep  furrows  earnestly  recom- 
mended, will  prevent  botb.  In  addition  to  tbe 
previous  observations  in  tbis  number,  apply- 
ing to  the  reconciliation  of  these  apparent  con- 
tradictions, the  reader  will  be  pleased  to  re- 
collect those  in  a  former  one,  designed  to  prove 
that  evaporation  will  be  greater  from  a  fiat 
than  from  a  ridged  surface,  and  therefore  in 
winter  when  it  is  too  slow,  the  furrows  may 
carry  otfihe  superfluous  water,  and  in  summer 
when  it  is  too  rapid,  the  ridges  may  obstruct  it. 
If  twenty  inches  of  rain  falls  in  1  be  year, 
which  would  retain  moisture  in  droughts  long- 
est ;  a  level  iron  pan  of  an  hundred  acres  area, 
or  an  hundred  acres  of  earth  of  a  soil  absorb- 
ing all  that  fell  ?  The  soil  1  have  been  speak- 
i  f.  Hat  and  undrained,  is  somewhat  of  the 
nature  of  the  pan  ;  drained  by  ridges  and  deep 
furrows,  it  is  converted  into  one  more  absor- 
bent. 


19. 


214  DRAINING. 


NUMBER  55. 


DRAINING,  CONTINUED. 

The  next  species  of  draining  to  be  consider- 
ed is  nearly  as  simple,  as  useful,  and  as  much 
neglected,  as  that  we  have  just  past. — A  great 
part  of  the  country  below  the  mountains  is  of 
a  sandy  scil,  and  abounds  with  a  multitude  of 
creeks,  bogs  and  rivulets,  generally  furnish- 
ing tine  land  up  to  their  \e\y  springs,  if  they 
were  drained.  But  instead  of  doing  this,  the 
labour  of  the  country  has  been  applied  with 
great  perseverance  and  success,  to  draining  the 
hills  of  their  barren  sands,  for  the  purpose  of 
pouring  them  upon  these  rich  rallies.  To  ar- 
rest and  repair  so  ruinous  an  evil,  would  be 
the  means  of  bringing  under  culture  an  im- 
mense body  of  land,  infinitely  more  fertile 
than  that  in  cultivation  ;  and  if  health  and 
plenty  are  bad  motives  for  the  undertaking, 
this  fertility  ought  to  suggest  the  folly  of  ne- 
glecting the  smallest  slipe  of  these  wet  lands, 
from  pecuniary  considerations  only. 

If  however  the  wonderful  manner  in  which 
the  Eastern  States  are  watered,  is  adverted  to, 
the  very  great  quantity  of  these  wet  lands 
will  strike  the  mind,  and  disclose  to  it  at  once 
a  capacity  as  great  for  causing  unhealthine.?s, 
as  for  producing  profit  :  and  as  in  reaping  the 
good  we  remove  the  evil,  an  admiration  of  hu- 
man nature  is  awakened,  when  we  see  it  brave 
the  worst  climates,  and  court  death  abroad  for 
the  sake  of  wealth,  rather  than  acquire  it  at 
homo  by  highly  improving  a  tolerable  one, 
and  <  ourtiog  long  life. 


hualkin-g.  215 

There  is  hardly  a  habitation  in  most,  of  the 
Eastern  States,,  however  distant  from  the  lar- 
ger rivers,  without  the  atmospherical  influence 
of  this  vast  mass  of  creeks,  bogs  and  rivulets  ; 
and  accordingly  their  effect  is  almost  every 
where  in  some  decree,  experienced.  Few  of 
their  channels  retain  any  appearance  of  their 
natural  state,  being  every  where  obstructed 
by  sands,  bogs*  blishcs  ami  rubbish,  so  as  to 
form  innumerable  putrid  puddles,  pools  and 
bogs,  upon  the  o,ceurrene'e  °*  every  drought  ; 
to  several  of  which,  ail  our  summers  and  au- 
tumns are  liable.  By  stopping  and  spreading 
the  waters  of  our  creeks  and  rivulets,  they 
soon  cease  to  flow  in  droughts,  and  the  water 
which  might  be  carried  off*  in  a  healthy  cur- 
rent at  aU  times,  in  wet  seasons,  poisons  the 
earth,  and  in  dry,  the  air,  because  then  evapo- 
ration becomes  its  only  channel. 

Every  rational  being  will  acknowledge,  that 
nothing  can  be  more  ridiculous  than  to  kill 
ourselves  for  the  sake  of  remaining  poor,  and 
nothing  wiser  than  to  lengthen  our  lives  for 
the  sake  of  becoming  daily  more  comfortable. 
The  latter  objects  will  both  be  certainly  ac- 
complished by  draining  our  creiks,  rivulets 
and  bogs,  s:>  as  to  bestow  on  them  unobstruc- 
ted cur;  eats,  and  to  cultivate  their  borders. — 
ja  sandy  countries,  where  they  are  most  ex- 
tensive, valuable  and  pernicious,  their  last 
qtmlity  is  mest  easily  removed,  as  1  shall  en- 
deavour to  shew' 

Side  and  straight  ditches,  where  ditching  is 
necessr.ry  ought  generally  to  be  abandoned, 
and  the  stream  trained  nearly  to  its  natural 
course,  avoiding  acute  angles,  and  aiming  at 
gent  le  sinuosities.  The  loose  texture  of  a  san- 
dy soil  suggests  these  precautions.     In  constf- 


216  DsAixrsc, 

faience  of  it,  =  i f  1  e    d  itches  are  speedily  filled 
up.     Straight  ditches  give  an  impetus   to  I 
current,  exposing  a  crumbling   soil  to  a  coti- 
r  abrasion,   and    devoting  the  point  upon 
ill  it  expends  its  greatest  fury,  to  great  in- 
jury.    Acute   angles  create    strong  eurre 
are  unable  to  withstand  weak  The 

est  ground  is  naturally  thehest  Tor  drains. 
I  gentle    behtls  check  the  impetuosity   of 
:  cats.      From    adhering    to    the    lowest 
ground   or  natural  course  of  the  stream,  v.  e 
avail   01  <o  great   extern   of  the 

>!r.  -  perfecting  the  drain,  by 

.ily  removing  such  obstructions  as  it 
i    .  .       .  or  disc'1  sitting  a 

If.     These  in  tin  untries, 

(■nsionaUy  of 
re  rigid  -  rth  :  the 

•moved,  tie  hitter  to  he  cut  thro*. 
In  ei  'itches,  widening  channels,  pairing 

off  points,  cleaning    and  deepening  drains 
any  kind,  one  of  (lie  most  us,  and  n 

errors,  is   to  leave  the  ea  '..-ir 

borders,  so  as  to  dam  out  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  the  water  the  drain  was  !  to  re- 
'iu1.  and  to  destroy  all  the  crop  within  its; 
ittfhten^e.  This  ear  •  unexr-epuonably 
'«•  he  e::                                             ,  leaving  the 

>wer  than 
Uds  will 
return  to 
tbe  channel  very 

rain  falls, 
of  it,  and  for 

ler  he  reduc- 
plete  i"edueti'jn  of 
race  to  crop-,  few  of 
whv  from  a  • 


DRAIN  ING.  21> 

short  immersion.  They  are  ruined  for  want 
of  a  remedy  against  stagnant  water.  Drains 
in  the  lowest  ground,  with  edges  lower  than 
the  ground  designed  to  he  dried,  aided  by  rid- 
ges and  furrows,  emptying  into  the  drains, 
will  aftbrd  this  remedy,  in  the  most  perfect 
manner. 


» 


213  »EAIM>C. 

NUMBER  5*. 

DRAINING,  CONTIXUFD. 

A 5  all  our  streams  have  fliers  falling  into 
ill  em.  and  are  attended   with  a   multitude  of 
springs  breaking  out  at  the  termination  of  the 
highland,  some  substitute  for  the  side  ditches 
bo  unsuccessfully  tried  for  ike  purpose  of  in- 
tercepting these  rills  and  springs,  is  indispen- 
sable.     I  have  tried  three  with  entire  success, 
ut  an   expenee   of  labour,  infinitely  less  than 
that    so  frequently   lost  In  adhering  to    side 
litehesj  in  such  eases  a?   we  are  considering, 
if  the    tributary    stream    rises    beyond    the 
; •-'  draining,  it  is  managed  by  the 
s as  the  chief  stream,  so  far  up- 
»'.  ai-ds,  as  is  necessary.     If  it  rises  in  a   bold 
nring  at  the  junction  of  the  hills  with  the 
re  reclaiming*  a  channel  is  made  for 
t  in  the  lowest  ground,  and  by    the  short*  ?t 
i   •  anee,  to  the  central  drain,  as  narrow  as  the 
til  allow,  never  more  than  eighteen  fn- 
-  deep,  with  perpendicular  sides.,  which   in 
•    narrow    tuts    last    much    longer  than 
because  they  are  not    equally  exposed 
-.     If  springs  ooze  in  a  continued  line 
lie  junction  of  the  hill  and  flat,  a  side  cut 
w  a-  possible  and  deep  enough  lo  in- 
t  ihen  a'l.  with  a  direct  cut  as   -above  to 

<  I  i.  i?  one  remedy.     The  labour 

ofn.  Is is   trifling.     The  last  however, 

irehes  above  the  lowest  ground  in  san- 
<iy  soils,   s  liable  to  be  filled    up.     To  obviate 
e  (which  in  these  small  cuts 
!  i  er/  great)  I  have  -frequently  tried  eo- 
vercd  lira  os,  constructed  as  follows,  with  in- 

*V         .'•!«'   5UC€ 


DRAINING*  219 

A  ditch  at  least  ictif  tect  deep  is  cut  so  as 
©omplete'y  to  intersect  the  whole  line  of  these 
oozing  springs,  to  the  depth  of  about  three 
feet,  and  it  is  continued  to  tfie  open  drain  in- 
to which  it.  niiisi  -Lseharge  its  water,  by  the 
rout  affording  thf  most  convenient  fall  for  that 
purpose.  The  ditch  is  cut  gradually  narrow- 
er from  the  top  to  'he  bottom,  where  it  is  not 
above  eight  inches  wide.  A  row  of  poles  of 
such  a  size  as  nearly  but  not  entirely  to  touch, 
is  laid  on  each  side  of  the  ditch  at  bottom. — • 
Green  or  seasoned  brush,  without  leaves, 
trimmed  to  lie  elose,is  then  packed  into  the 
ditch,  with  the  small  ends  downwards,  and 
touching  the  poles,  beginning  at  the  upper  end 
of  the  ditch.  The  inclination  of  the  brush 
must  be  up  stream,  at  an  angle  of  about  forty- 
five  degrees  with  the  bottom  of  the  ditch  ;  it 
must  be  packed  as  close  with  the  hand  as  pos- 
sible, and  cut  into  lengths  proper  for  the  end 
of  filling  the  ditch  within  ten  inches  of  the 
top.— The  brush  is  then  to  be  covered  with 
four  inches  of  dry  sound  leaves  of  any  kind, 
and  the  whole  of  the  earth  to  be  returned  up- 
on the  ditch  and  well  rammed.  It  will  press 
down  the  brush  and  leaves  low  enough  to  ad- 
mit of  any  species  of  culture  without  distur- 
bing them.  The  oozing  water  will  be  receiv- 
ed by  the  former,  and  must  trickle  through 
the  apertures  caused  by  having  its  small  ends 
at  bottom,  and  by  the  poles,  down  to  the  open 
drain,  and  the  soured  ground  will  lose  every 
boggy  appearance. 

This  mode  of  draining  seems  in  description 
to  be  more  troublesome,  than  I  have  found  it 
to  be  in  practice.  Unless  its  duration  could 
be  ascertained,  we  cannot  certainly  pronounce 
fcs  to  its  cheapness.    The  oldest  I  have  had  an 


£20  DRAIlflXG. 

opportunity  of  attending  to,  was  constructed 
about  ten  years  past.  Its  objects  were  to  ren- 
der a  road  dry.  and  about  two  acres  of  soured 
barren  land  better,  by  sinking  a  line  of  oozing 
springs  lying  collaterally  with  the  road,  which 
made  it  a  quagmire  in  wet  weather,  and  ren- 
dered the  two  acres  barren. — The  road  has 
been  ever  since  dry  and  firm,  and  the  land, 
ofthebestin  the  field.  I  cannot  help  think- 
ing that  a  well  constructed  drain  of  this  kind, 
will  last  a  century.  Where  stones  can  be  had, 
they  may  be  made  to  last  forever,  but  I  doubt 
whether  brickwork  would  be  equal  to  the  brush. 

But  this  is  like  shooting  speculation  a  cen- 
tury beyondvhope.  It  is  superfluous  to  invent 
modes  of  preserving  spots,  whilst  we  are  de- 
stroying districts.  I  will  therefore  return  to> 
the  subject,  as  it  relates  to  draining  the  vast 
body  of  laud  lying  on  creeks  and  small  rivers. 
There  is  no  species  of  draining  so  cheap  or 
beneficial,  as  where  there  is  water  sufficient  to 
perform  a  chief  part  of  the  work.  Most 
streams  can  perform  some  of  it.  In  either 
case,  the  removal  of  obstructions  of  wood  or 
loose  stone,  requires  infinitely  less  labour, 
than  to  dig  an  equivalent  canal ;  and  the  wa- 
ter thus  aided,  will  continue  to  deepen  its 
channel,  until  its  efforts  are  controlled  by  with- 
holding the  assistance.  The  earth  it  scoops* 
out  of  the  channel,  becomes  an  alluvion  for 
curing  an  abundance  of  chasms  and  inequali- 
ties, the  fruit  of  torrents  and  obstructions. — 
And  by  correcting  some  angles,  and  deepen- 
ing the  channels  of  the  creeks  aud  small  ri-» 
vers,  a  very  large  quantity  of  the  best  land, 
now  yielding  foul  air,  may  be  brought  at  a  tri- 
fling expence  to  yield  line  crops. 

For  the  introduction  of  this  mode  of  drain- 
ing, the  cheapest,  the  most  practicable,  anrf 


DRAINING.  '2:t 

(.lie  most  profitable,  a  law  is  necessary.  I  do 
not  know  that  Coke's  sum  ma  ratio  provides 
for  the  ease,  and  the  absurdities  to  he  found  in 
the  code.,  upon  which  this  exalted  encomium. 
is  pronounced,  are  records  of  human  folly  suf- 
ficient to  shake  a  confidence  in  th^  good  sense 
and  justice  of  an  entire  nation,  however  plain 
the  case  may  he.  A  proprietor  below  may 
perhaps  he  found,  blind  to  the  clear  moral  ob- 
ligations wbieb  require  him  to  remove  the  ob- 
structions against  the  draining  of  a  proprietor 
above  ;  whilst  one  above  may  be  so  Lynx-eyed, 
as  to  see  injuries  to  himself  from  draining  land 
below.  And  yet  the  prosperity  and  the  health 
of  the  whole  nation  is  at  least  as  deeply  af- 
fected by  the  object,  as  by  the  establishment 
of  roads  :  nor  would  a  lower  county  which 
should  stop  all  the  roads  leading  from  above, 
act  as  unjustly  or  absurdly,  as  those  who  stop 
the  drains  from  above.  It  would  not  injure 
the  climate,  and  by  arresting  commodities,  it 
■would  establish  some  monopoly  beneficial  to 
itself;  but  the  obstructor  of  draining  gains 
no  exclusive  advantage,  and  shares  in  the  ge- 
neral calamity  of  a  bad  climate. 

Such  laws  are  not  novel.  Pennsylvania  is 
indebted  to  them  for  some  of  her  finest  farms. 
J  much  question  whet  her  the  state  legislatures 
have  a  power  to  pass  any  laws,  equally  b:ne- 
fieial.  They  might  try  the  experiment,  short 
of  that  requiring  social  embankments,  by  only 
imposing  the  simple  and  easy  obligation  of 
;  iag  up  a  social  current,  sufficient  to  drain 
all  lands  above,  in  every  stream  lying  above 
tide  wafer.  Such  laws  might  at  first  be  limi- 
ted to  the  removal  of  obstructions  of  wood  or 
earth,  until  experience  should  decide,  whether 
they  might  not  be  beneficially  extended  even 
to  obstructions  of  stone. 


22?  DRA1S1SG. 

XOIBER  5?. 

DRAIVIKG,  COVTINVED. 

The  residue  of  this  subject  contains  in  eve- 
ry view  its  most  important  division,  and  unfor- 
tunately meets  with  less  capacity  to  do  it  jus- 
tice.    The  benefits  arising  from  draining  the 

kind  of  ground  we  have  passed  over,  tho 
great  in  themselves,  are  inconsiderable,  com- 
pared with  those  which  would  result  from 
draining  the  marshes  and  sunken  grounds  up- 
on tide  water.  A  new  country  and  climate 
would  be  gained  by  it.  We  know  that  the 
Dutch  in  both  hemispheres,  haye  reclaimed 
rich  countries  from  1he  ocean,  whilst  we  aban- 
don them  to  the  rivers  :  but  I  do  not  recollect 
to  have  heard  of  a  book  upon  draining  and 
banking.  My  whole  experience  is  confined  to 
a  single  experiment,  yet  unfinished,  the  oc- 
currences of  which  I  shall  relate,  so  far  as 
they  may  be  useful.  It  is  made  on  ground  -i- 
rnilar  to  the  body  of  marsh  and  wet  land,  a- 
bopnding  on  the  tide  rivers  and  creeks  of  the 
Eastern  States,  to  an  extent,  sufficient  if  re- 
elaimed,  to  dispense  wealth  and  comfort,  and 
unreclaimed,  unwholesomeness  and  death. 

About  two  hundred  acres  of  such  land,  three 
fourths  of  which  were  subject  to  the  tides, 
Which  fluctuate  to  the  extent  of  about  three 
feet,  and  within  half  a  mile  of  a  large  river,  is 
the  subject  of  the  experiment.  The  remain- 
ing fourth,  though  a  few  inches  above  tide 
water,  was  sunken  land, covered  with  t!;e  usual 
growth  of  such  ground.  A  large  portion  was 
soft  marsh,  subject  to  common  tides,  aad  near- 


DKAIXIX<£  223 

ly  as  much  a  sheet  of  water,  shallow  at  low 
tides.  On  one  side  of  (his  area,  has  been  con- 
structed a  canal  about  eighteen  feet  wide,  to 
conduct  a  creek  sufficiently  large  for  two  mills 
above  ;  and  on  the  other,  one  half  as  wide,  to 
Receive  and  convey  several  small  streams,  and 
a  great  number  of  springs.  At  the  termina- 
tion of  the  work,  these  canals  are  connected  by 
a  dam  nearly  two  hundred  yards  long,  one  half 
crossing  the  soft  marsh,  and  the  other  the 
space  constituting  the  former  bed  of  the  creek. 
These  canals  are  between  four  and  five  miles 
long,  and  have  been  constructed  cautiously  and 
leisurely,  to  diminish  the  loss  of  the  adven- 
ture, should  it  prove  unsuccessful. 

The  experiment  was  commenced  by  cutting 
a  ditch  on  the  left  side  for  the  small  canal,  a- 
bout  four  feet  wide,  and  two  deep,  near  the  dry 
land,  but  wholly  in  the  soil  of  the  wet. — It  was 
found  to  yield  too  little  earth  to  make  a  bank 
high  and  strong  enough  to  resist  either  inun- 
dations or  high  tides  ;  that  the  earth  became 
so  porous,  on  drying,  as  to  produce  leaks  ami 
breaches  ;  and  that  it  was  yet  so  adhesive  as 
to  admit  of  the  burrowing  of  musk  rats,  with 
which  the  place  abounded.  Thus  the  first  at- 
tempt failed,  and  a  considerable  ditch  became 
wholly  useless. 

As  this  spongy  and  fibrous  soil  extended  to 
the  base  of  the  hills  on  both  sides,  the  next 
attempt  was  made  by  driving  a  double  row  of 
stakes  and  puncheons  round  and  split,  being 
six  feet  long,  t\\<,  feet  into  the  wet  ground, 
about  eighteen  from  the  dry,  fitted  together  as 
close  as  possible,  and  covering  them  with  the 
same  kind  of  soil,  dug  out  of  the  canal  for 
conducting  the  creek,  which  afforded  earth 
when  cut  about  one  foot  deep,  to  cover  tjte 


2£t  DRAINING. 

stakes.     The  result  was,  tbat  the  wooden  watt 
under  this  spout;  brous  earth,  was  do 

security  against  the  musk  rats,  ami  tbat  the 
hauk  was  pierced  by  them  at  pie,  I  lie 

labour  in  wood  was  therefore  lost,  but  not  the 
insufficient  channel  nor  the  bank. 

The  channel  being  about  twelve  inches 
deeper  than  the  adjacent  sunken  ground,  would 
contain  and  conduct  the  creek  except  in  inun- 
dations, and  as  the  bank  hitherto  described, 
was  in  every  view  insufficient,  chasm-  of  fif- 
teen or  twenty  feet,  wide  were  made  in  it  at 
about  three  hundred  yards  apart,  to  let 
water  pass  out  when  high.  The  creek  was 
turned  into  this  canal,  with  a  view  of  floating 
the  sand  from  above,  and  depositing  it  along 
the  bottom,  conveniently  for  removal  to  the 
hank  in  order  to  oppose  its  friable  nature  to 
the  architectural  skill  of  the  muskrats. 

At  some  convenient  season  once  a  year  (for 
the  experiment  proceeded  for  years)  the 
ter  of    the  creek  being  turned  successively 
through  these  chasms  above,  left  its  bo; 
lielow  of  firm    sand,  which   was  very    easily 
raised  upon  the  bank.     By  the  pressure  of 
this  annual  alluvion  of  sand,  upon  the  spongy 
soil,  the  channel  of  the  creek  became  det 
and  the  alluvion  was  increased,  so  that  finally 
the   first  embankment,  being  greatly  rai 
and  completely  covered  with  the  sand  filtered 
by  the  water  into  a  state  for  the  object,  be- 
came a  fortification  proof  against  the  skill  of 
these  troublesome  animals. 

The  cliastns  left  for  mundaiioas  being  of 
the  kind  of  soil  described,  were  not  liable  to 

lit  by  the  water  into  new  channels, 
their  edges  or  banks,  being  higher  than  tae 
bottom  of  the  creek,  very  little  sand  could  es- 
cape through  them. 


DRAINING.  2-Z5 

As  the  body  of  water  on  the  left  side,  was 
too  inconsiderable  for  the  alluvion  process,  it 
became  necessary  to  abandon  the.  old  ditch, 
and  to  commence  a  new  one,  so  far  touching 
upon  the  base  of  the  rising  dry  land,  as  to  se- 
cure a  sufficiency  of  sand  for  the  bank,  and 
yet  to  be   able  to  penetrate  to   the  springs, 
which  created  a  perpetual  pond  and  bog  in  a 
portion  of  the  area  to  be  drained.     It  is  now 
cut  throughout  its  whole  course  of  about  three 
miles,  so  deep  as  to  have  reached  many  of  the 
springs,   with  a  bank  able  to  command  inun- 
dations  and   tides.     The  bank  was  composed 
of  sand  only,  (the   wooden  staecade   having 
turned  out  to  be  useless)  and  being  of  consi- 
derable size,  proved  a  complete  barrier  against 
the  muskrats,  in  the  following  eases  executed. 
In  three  several  places  the  bog  or  marsh,  pro- 
truded into  the  dry  land  at  right  angles  with 
the  course  of  the  ditch,  in  narrow  necks   not 
Worth  the  etfpence  of  including.     Two  of  these 
were  about  thirty  yards  wide,  and  the  third 
near  ten.     All  were  crossed,  and  to  save  the 
trouble  of  getting  sand  for  the   bank,  a  more 
careful  trial  was  made  of  the  staecade  and 
spongy  soil.     They  proved  in  all  three  places 
insufficient  to  confine  the  water,  or  resist  the 
muskrats.      A  sandy  soil  lny  on  both  sides  oi" 
these  guts,  but  still  it  would  be  considerable 
labour  to  remove  a  quantity  of  it  sufficient  for 
the  whole  bank  ;  to  save  this  labour,  a  ditch 
was  cut  on  the  inner  or  lower  side  of  the  bank 
close  to  its  base,  three  feet  wide,  and  as  many 
deep,  quite  across  the  mouths  of  the  two,  lar- 
gest guts,  and  tilled  with  thi  it  sandy 
soil  :  and  this  thread  of  sand  was  continued 
on  the  back  of  the  spongy   part  of  the  bank 
above  higii  water  mark  in  the  canal.     At  the 
20. 


DRASlfflSG. 

nar:  bank  was  freH  coated   ah 

ground  with  sand.     At  all  three,  success  was 
complete. 

Before  the  inefficacy  of  Hie 

ed  to  in  maJ 
d:im  across  the  creek  and  mai  acd 

feet  long,  ivcn 

about  three  i  earth  across  both,  in  the 

.    and  in   a    triple 
-    -  de   on  each. 

bg  wattl 
was  made,   for  tiie  purpose  ding 

tije  moist  soil  of  the  the  dam 

-  to  be  compounded  of  it,  and  of  arresting 
the  sand,  v  here  ii  was  to !  ion. 

By  laying  plank  for  the  labourers  on  each  side 
at  fifteen  feet  distance  fron  .  and 

working  backwards  towards  them,  cutting  out 
the  earth   as  the   labourei 

reach,  marsh  earth  v 
tides  to  raise  the  dam  to  a 
far  as  the  marsh  extended  :   hut  though  it  was 
eigl  oved  um. 

either  the  «  ater  or  the  mnskrats.  It  therefore 
became  nc-  the 

whole  length  of  >y  of  the  dam,  bind- 

ing on  the  cent  ei  r  feet  v>ide<, 

and   two    fe  .  r  tlian  the  summit  of  the 

marsh,  and  to  fill  it  with  at  1  ±il- 

teiv  I     is  remedy  has  hither- 

to h  .  but  nin  j  haying 

clap?  d.  it    is  not  entirely 

toniiufd  i 


ukaixixg.  2%\ 

NUMBER  oC. 

DRAIXIXG,  CONTINUED, 

The  remaining  moiety  of  the  dam  was  cn- 
lively  composed  of  alluvion  sand.  For  this 
object,  the  canal  for  the  creek  was  made  to 
terminate  at  a  sleep  sandy  hill,  being  put  close 
to  i;  Cure  was  (aken  to  keep  the  hot- 

torn  of  the  creek  two  feet  above  low  water 
mark,  for  the  sake  of  a  current,  which  being 
directed  into  the  two  nine  feet  lanes,  made  by 
the  staceade  and  the  watllings.  gradually  eon- 
veyed  the  sand  into  them, and  forced  the  creek 
to  retire  in(o  a  narrow  channel.  To  accele- 
rate the  operation,  the  sand  of  the  bill  was 
occasionally  thrown  into  the  creek,  and  to  les- 
sen the  labour  of  doing  it,  the  channel,  as  the, 
canal  widened  by  drafts  of  sand  from  the  hill, 
was  kepi  near  its  base.  This  was  done  by  oc- 
ca&ionalk-  removing  the  stones  and  pebble-', 
'rally  round  in  sandy  soils,  and  left  behind 
ii\  the  filtration,  to  the  base  of  the  hank,  where 
d need  the  indispensable  end  of  pre- 
venting the  attrition  of  t.jje  current. 

A>  much  sand  being  thus  conveyed  and  deb- 
ited its  t\ic  descent  would  allow,  two  close 
parallel    green   cedar  watljings   were  made 

htecn  feet  below  the  lowest  hitherto  men- 
tioned, IVom  ;!:;■  highland  to  the  marsh  :  the 
cut  through  the  marsh  on  the  lower  side,  made 
in  ; ..  at  part  of  the  dam,  was  converted 

into  a  ehauncl    for   the  creek  to   the  oppo 
high  land,  and  a  short  eanal  was  cut  through 
a  neck  of  marsh,  to  conduct  it  from  thence  to 
tide  water  below.     And  thenceforth  the  sand 


€28  BRAUffKG. 

was  deposited  by  the  current  along  the  v*hole 
extent  of  (he  dam,  from  whence  it  was  occasi- 
onally '.villi  great  ease  removal  upon  it,  by 
taking  off  the  creek  in  low  tides  and  dry  sea- 
sons, in  which  there  is  no  difficulty. 

In  carrying  the  staecade  across  the  creek, 
great  care  was  taken  to  make  its  top  one  foot 
higher  than  the  highest  tides,  and  on  covering 
it  with  the  sand,  the  aperture  left  for  the  fides 
Mas  closed.  The  dam  was  however  twice  bro- 
ken by  high  tides,  before  it  was  conjectured, 
thai  the  sand  by  iis  weight,  had  compress 
the  porous  niarsh  soil  of  which  the  bottom  of 
the  ereekwas  composed,  and  lowered  the  whole 
staecade  with  it.  Upon  a  strict  attention  to 
this  idea,  however,  it  was  concluded,  that  such 
a  compressure,  in  proportion  to  weight  and 
compressibility  took  place  throughout  the  dam. 
and  hanks  :  and  that  though  it  required  occa- 
sional additions  to  both,  to  preserve  their  level 
at  least  two  leet  above  the  highest  tides  and 
inundations,  its  effect  of  obstructing  the  per- 
colation of  the  surrounding  water  into  the 
.  c  to  be  drained,  admitted  by  the  nature  of 
.1,  .*«/)!  to  a  great  extent,  was  a  full  retribu- 
tion fur  i he  labour  thus  expended. 

The  dam  and  banks  being  closed  quite  a- 
found,  to  get  rid  of  the  internal  water,  con- 
stituted the  remaining  difficulty.  It  was  ne- 
cessary (o  construct  a  gate  to  discharge  it  at 
low  tides.  A  tide  gate  in  the  center  of  the 
dam  was  unsuccessfully  tried.  Ami  finally  a 
trunk  made  of  two  inch  oak  plank,  sixteen  feet 
long,  with  a  cavity  three  feet  wide  and  one 
3eep,  answered  the  end  much  better  than  any 
other  experiment.  The  water  on  the  inside 
pas-es  along  the  dam,  parallel  to  the  water  on 
ihe  out,  in  the  chancel  cut  for  raising  the  daw 


DHAIXIXG,  229 

across  the  marsh,  to  the  small  canal  near  the 
junction  of  its  bank  with  the  dam.  At  this  spot 
thefoundationisan  unctuous  fullersearth.  The 
place  being  made  by  hay-dams,  was  dug  out  to 
the  precise  level  of  low  water,  and  the  trunk 
accurately  laid  down  upon  it.  Plank  one  foot 
wide  was  sunk  quite  around  it  edgeways,  so 
as  to  lap  two  inches  on  the  bottom  of  the 
trunk,  and  the  whole  was  covered  with  earth, 
and  well  rammed  to  within  two  feet  of  the 
ends,  so  as  to  discharge  the  water  into  the 
small  canal.  At  each  aperture  of  the  trunk, 
is  a  door  made  of  a  single  plank,  fitted  to  the 
outside,  having  four  folds  of  coarse  woollen 
cloth,  dipped  in  hot  tar,  nailed  on  so  as  to  fit 
the  mouths  of  the  box,  fixed  by  strong  hinge# 
made  for  the  purpose,  and  latched  under  water 
by  the  help  of  a  long  handle  attached  to  the 
latch.  The  defect  hitherto  discovered, is, that 
the  trunk  is  not  long  enough  by  about  six  feet. 

This  species  of  trunk  was  first  tried  to  save 
the  water  of  a  small  branch  for  grinding  gyp- 
sum, in  a  simple  tub  mill,  built  for  that  pur- 
pose. Only  oue  door,  and  no  latch  was  ne- 
cessary. The  pressure  of  the  water  in  the 
pond  was  such,  that  when  high,  a  strong  chain 
attached  well  to  the  door,  worked  wi»h  a  small 
lever,  was  necessary  to  open  it.  A  hole  of 
two  inches  diameter,  kept,  closed  with  a  large 
peg,  tc  be  nulled  bill  by  a  pole  fastened  to  it, 
was  resorted  to  for  diminishing  the  resistance, 
of  the  water,  •  id  :-.«•  d;or  to  open  more 

easily.     Awl  the  end  >g~tlie  water  was 

very  well  eftectcd. 

It  was  discover.  I  that    ]y  Jutei'v  »'  water  to 

be  voided  by  the  truiiK,  increased 

by  springs  passing  nm  er  the  >r  which 

there  was  no  remedy  but  to  ik      u  theni.— 

o. 


2o0  LiHjage. 

This  rented*  was  applied  to  il:e  small  one  with, 
such  effect,  that  its  continuance,  until  the  bot- 
tom in  its  whole  coarse  shall  be  brought  to  a 
level  viib  the  water  at  low  tide,  is  confidently 
sidered  as  a  certain  cure  for  Ibe  evil.    The 
number  and  size  of  the   springs  discovert  d, 
Were  beyond  expectation,  and  the  interception 
of  the  residue  is  considered  as  certain.     The 
large   canal  could  not  be  deepened  hitherto, 
because  it  has  not  quite  finished  the  work  of 
alluvion.     But  there  will  be   no   difficulty  in 
cutting  off  the  springs  beneath  it.  by  a  Barron 
ditch  in  the  center.     For  when  this  work  is 
done,   the  obstructions-  to  prevent  the  creek 
from  deepening  itself,  will   be  removed,  and 
thai  operation  Anil  both  lessen    i  he  work  of 
letratlng  to  tie  springs,  and   also  bestow 
upon    the    bank  a  more    perfect  degree    of 
strength. 
The  efforts  used  to  prevent  the  abrasion  of 
water  in  acute  angles,  eddies  or  strong 
currents,   consisted   of  single  or  double  wat- 
tle- of  green  cedar,  in  proper  declivities  to  re- 
water,  and  to  retain  earth  :  and  of  throw- 
ing all  stones  and  grave!  washed  from  the  base 
the  hills  cut  by  the  canal,  to  the  base  of  the 
bank.     The  bank  also,  generally,  had  covered 
(lfnefbre  it-  apertures,  for  allowing  a  pas- 
e  to  inundations,  were  closed,  with  a  strong 
>it  of  shrub-,  weeds  or  grass  :  and  these 
several  remedies  against  the  attrition  of  the 
current  have  hitherto  been  effectual.     A  por- 
tion of  the  lard  heretofore  flooded  by  common 
tides,  is  quite  dry,  and  will  be  this  year  culti- 
vated.    After  widening  the  dam  by  alluvion, 
to  about  thirty  feet,  the  creek  will  no  longer 
be  kept  parallel  w  ith  it,  but  will  be  sent  straight 
on  from  the  right  bank.     And  the  bank  is  des« 
1  to  the  use  of  apple  trees. 

\ 


DRAINING.  231 

The  sandy  soil  approximating  upon  mos(  or 
all  of  -lies  and  sunken  grounds  of  the 

Eastern  ates,  seems  to  he  the  providential 
provision  of  thi  neans  for  reclaiming  them  j 
and  the  multitude  of  ourrents  passing  through 
this  soil,  are  like  vehicles  for  conveying  these 
means  to  the  necessary  positions.  They  are 
vehicles  which  disregard  distance,  travel  con- 
stantly and  never  decay.  They  will  calk  the 
most  porous  soil,  overwhelm  the  strongest  vlr- 
min,  and  follow  the  slightest  direction.  Their 
efforts  may  he  aided  by  the  plough,  by  remov- 
ing obstructions,  and  by  tumbling  into  them 
sandy  declivities  with  little  labour,  near  to 
which  they  should  be  guided  for  that  purpose- 


Zo$  TOBAOCC. 

NUMBER  57. 


i 

The  extent  of  country  vet  devoted  to  the 
cultivation  of  this  plant,  entitles  it  to  a  plate 
in  an  agricultural  cphemeris,  the  object  of 
which,  is  to  kill  had  habits,  and  to  be  killed 
itself  by  a  complete  system.  The  preserva- 
bleness  of  tobacco,  endows  it  with  the  rare 
capacity  of  wailing  for  a  market,  and  consu- 
tuted  a  recommendation  which  indueed  me  to 
cultivate  it  attentively  during  two  years-^- 
Both  crops  succeeded  beyond  the  medium  cal- 
culation, and  the  experiments  still  exhibited 
results  conclusively  proving  the  propriety  of 
its  abandonment.  These  results  were  all  with 
ease  reduced  to  figures.  It  was  easy  to  fix 
the  value  of  labour  bestowed  on  an  acre  of  to- 
baeco,  and  on  its  crop  after  severance:  and 
en  an  acre  of  corn  or  wheat,  with  the  prepa- 
ration of  its  crop  also  for  market.  It  was  as 
easy  to  ascertain  the  produce  of  equal  soil^ 
and  prices  were  settled  by  sales.  Such  esti- 
mates demonstrated  the  loss  of  growing  to- 
bacco, merely  on  the  score  of  annual  profit, 
without  taking  into  the  aesount,  the  formida- 
ble obstacle  it  constitutes  to  the  improvement 
of  laud. 

This  objection  is  not  founded  upon  the  er» 
roneous  opinion,  that  it  is  peculiarly  an  impo- 
verisher.  On  the  contrary,  my  impression 
was,  that  it  was  less  so,  than  any  other  crop  I 
knew  of,  except  cotton  and  the  sweet  potatoe. 
But  upon  its  enormous  consumption  of  labour, 
and  its  diminutive  returns  of  manure.      It 


TftBACCO.  2.»S 

would  startle  even  an  old  planter,  to  see  an 
exact  account  of  the  labour  devoured  by  an 
aere  of  tobae  o,  and  the  preparation  of  the 
crop  for  market.  Even  supposing  that  crop 
to  amount  to  the  extraordinary  quantity  of  one 
thousand  pounds,  he  would  iind  it  seldom,  if 
ever,  producing  a  profit  upon  a  fair  calculati- 
on. He  would  lie  astonished  to  discover  how 
often  he  had  passed  over  the  land,  and  the  to- 
baeco  through  his  hands,  in  fallowing,  hilling, 
cutting  oft*  hills,  plan  ting,  replantings,  toppings, 
suckcrings,  weedings,  cuttings,  picking  up, 
removing  out  of  the  ground  hy  hand,  hanging, 
striking,  stripping,  stemming,  and  prizing, 
and  that  the  same  labour,  devoted  to  almost 
any  other  employment,  would  have  produced  a 
bttter  return  hy  ordinary  success,  than  tobac- 
co does  by  the  extravagant  crop  I  have  sup- 
posed. 

Though  its  profit  is  small  or  nothing,  its 
quality  of  starving  every  thing  exceeds  that  of 
every  other  crop.  It  starves  the  earth  by  pro- 
ducing but.  lit  lie  litter,  and  it  starves  ils  cul- 
tivators, hy  producing  nothing  to  eat.  What- 
ever plenty  or  splendour  it  may  bestow  on  its 
owner,  the  soil  it  feeds  on  must  necessarily 
become  cadaverous,  and  its  cultivators  squa- 
lid. Nor  can  it.  possibly  diffuse  over  the  face 
of  the  earth,  or  the  faces  of  its  inhabitants, 
the  exuberance  which  flows  from  fertilization, 
nor  the  happiness  which  flows  from  plenty. 

A  substitute  is  the  object  of  enquiry,  after 
we  are  convinced  of  the  detrimental  nature  of 
any  crop.  When  flour  sells  for  as  much  as 
tobacco,  by  the  pound,  wheat  would  be  a  com- 
plete one,  at  any  distance  from  water  carri- 
age ;  but  as  that  is  seldom  the  case,  others 
must  be  sought  after.    The  extent  and  pop»- 


TOBACCO. 

huion  of  the  country,  within  reach  ol 
to  the  tobacco  district 

n  suffice  to  i  aiT 

tobacco  :    and    n 
vide  foi  . 

* 

live 

in  the  bread  wa- 

ter- 
beyond  the 

they  are  immediately  surrounded  :  and  if  it  is 
a  question   in  th  cultivated  countries, 

whether  grazing    and  breeding    live    stock, 
even  upon  I  b  in  of  navigation*  is  no: 

most  niturai  employment  :  eve- 

ry doul  in   comparm;:  it  with   ihe 

cnlture  -co.  in  situations  where       * 

eapaciiy  of  walking  to  market,   will  create  a 
considerable  item  of  that  eompans 

sg  stem  of  a.^,  .  for  a  hi 

farm,  according  to  the  experience  I  ! 
requires  live  stock  sufficient  to  t 

to  manure,  ei 
and  Jitter  :   in  i  R«  etihg  which,  a  -  y  of 

meat  may  be  pro".  Iier 

Bui  if  J  in  eoncludin:  Liie  live 

such  a  farm  o  int. 

- 

trans]  grain  to  :  rivial.  i;  f.l- 

lu\ vs,  ti  t market  would. remain  for  the 

'  live   stock  of  I  In  «q   district, 

-i-ting  of  town?,   artiz  who  live  by 

j  ;  and  of 
the  bread  staff  fenpers  themselves,  a- to  1. 


TOBACCO.  235 

m'S  and  mules,  the  breeding;  of  which  is  exclu- 
ded by  (his  system  ;  and  as  to  pork  also, 
wherever  a  better  mode  of  raising  it  than  the 
present,  shall  not  be  adopted. 

Having  had  no  experience  of  a  farm  devoted 
to  raising  live  stock,  ray  observations  are  con- 
jectural. It  seems  to  me  that  manuring  might 
be  carried  much  farther,  where  the  whole 
produce  was  consumed  on  the  land,  than  when 
a  part  of  it  was  exported  ;  that  the  product 
might  be  therefore  more  rapidly  increased, 
and  the  space  cultivated,  diminished  ;  and 
that  (he  herbaceous  and  succulent  crops  would 
so  far  banish  the  use  of  those  more  exhaust- 
ing, as  greatly  to  accelerate  the  improvement 
of  the  exhausted  tobacco  district,  and  to  in- 
sure an  immediate  or  very  near  return  of  pro- 
iit,  exclusively  of  a  return  of  comfort,  far  ex- 
ceeding that  to  which  it  has  been  accustomed. 


it%  THE  ECONOMY 

NUMBER  53. 

:?    OF    AGRICULTURE. 

There  is  no  subject  less  understood,  nor 
more  generally  mistaken  than  this  ;  nor  any 
more  essentia)  to  the  prosperity  of  agricul- 
ture, ^sufficient  to  afford  mattci  lot  an  entire 
treatise?  it  cannot  be  embraced  bv  a  - 
chapter.     But  a  short  chapter  m  unds 

upon  the  tract,  able  to  unfold  hs  i;,  ...'.ions 
with  every  branch  of  agriculture,  aud  more 
specially  to  disclose  its  value. 

Diminutions  of  comforts,  necessaries  and 
expenee,  are  too  often  mistaken  for  the  in  ans 
of  producing  the  ends  they  obstruct ;  and  the 
rapacity  which  starves,  frequently  receives 
the  just  retribution  of  a  disappointment,  be- 
gotten by  a  vicious  mode  of  avoiding  it.— 
From  the  master  down  to  the  meanest  utensil, 
the  Best  capacity  for  fulfilling  the  contemplat- 
ed ends,  is  invariably  the  best  economy  .;  and 
the  same  reasoning  which  demonstrates  the 
bad  economy  of  a  shattered  loom..  vvil:  tkruon- 
ttrate  the  bad  economy  of  a  shattered  consti- 
tution, or  an  imperfect  state  of  body.  The 
cottagers  who  inflict  upon  themselves  and  their 
families  the  discomforts  of  cold  houses,  bad 

dding  and  insufficient  clothing,  to  acquire 
wealth,  destroy  the  vigour  both  of  th**  miud 
and  bbdji  necessary  for  obtaining  the  contem- 
plated end,  at  which  of  course,  they  can  ne- 
ver arrive.  The  farmer  who  starves  his 
slaves,  is  a  still  gre-.iter  sufferer.  He  loses 
the  profits  produced  bv  health,  strength  and 
alacrity ;  aid  suffers  the  losses  caused  by  dis- 


OF    AGRICt'I.THTKE. 


ease,  >hort  life,  weakness  and  Rejection.  A 
portion  or  the  whole  of  (he  profit,  raising  from 
their  increase  is  also  lost.  Moreover^  lie  is 
exposed  to  various  injuries  from  the  vices  in- 
spired by  severe  privations,  and  rejects  the 
best  sponsor  for  his  happiness,  as  we'll  as  pros- 
pefity,  by  banishing  the  solace  of  labour.  In 
like  manner,  the  more  perfect,  the  more  pro- 
fitable are  working  animals  and  implements. 
and  every  saying  by  which  the  capacity  of  ei- 
ther t-o  fulfil  their  destiny  in  the  best  manner 
is  diminished,  terminates  with  certainty  in 
some  portion  of  loss,  and  not  unfrequentiy  in 
extravagant  waste.  Eren  the  object  of  ma- 
nuring is  vastly  affected  by  the  plight  of  tho^c 
animals  by  which  it  is  aided. 

A  pinching  miserly  system  of  agriculture, 
may  indeed  keep  a  farmer  out  of  a  prison,  but 
it  will  never  lodge  him  in  a  palace.  Great 
profit  depends  on  great  improvements  of  the 
soil,  and  great  improvements  can  never  be 
made  by  penurious  efforts.  The  discrimina- 
tion between  useful  and  productive, and  useless 
and  barren  expenses,  contains  the  agricultural 
i  t,  for  acquiring  happiness  and  wealth.  -1 
!  farmer  will  sow  tin-  Crst  with  an  open 
hand,  and  eradicate  every  seed  of  the  other. 

Liberality  constitutes  the  economy  of  agri- 
culture, and  perhaps  it  is  the  solitary  human 
occupation,  to  which  the  adage,  ■«  the  more  we 
give,  the  more  w< 

applied.     Liberality  to  the  eanb  i:.  man'i 
and  culture,  is  the  fountain  of  its  '  p  u? 

Ia1)'  slaves  and  working  is,  iC 

the  fountain  of  their  pro-' 

tic  brutes,  is  the  fountain  of  in 
mg  in  proper  modes  a  sufriciencv  of   i 
lor  our  labourers,  we  bestow  a  strength    i 
21. 


C,;S  TJfE    ECONOMY 

their  bodies,,  and  a  fertility  upon  the  ground, 
er  of  v  liic-li  will  reeotnpence  us  for  the  ex- 
peuee  of  the  meat,  and  the  other  will  be  a  pro- 
lit.     The  good  work  of  a  strong  team,  causes 
a  pro  lit  beyond  the  bad  work  of  a  weak  one* 
after  deducting  the  additional  expenee  of  feed- 
ing it  :  and  it  saves  moreover  half  the  labour 
of  a  driver,  sunk  in  following  a  bad  one.     Li- 
berality   in    warm    houses    produces  health, 
ogth,  and  comfort  :  preserves  the  lives  of 
a  multitude  of  domestic  animals  ;  causes  all 
animals  to   thrive  on   less  food  ;  and   secures 
from  damage  all  kinds  oferops.     And  Hbera- 
litv  in  the  utensils  of  husbandry,  saves  labour 
to  a  vast  extent,  by  providing  the  proper  tools 
for  doing  the  work  both  well  and  expeditiously. 
Foresight  is  another  item  in  the  economy  of 
It    consist?  in   preparing  work 
all  weather,  and  doing  all  work  in  proper 
weather,  and  at  propertimi  s.     'i  :       lii  la 
the  United  Slates  makes  the  first  easy,  and 
second  less  difficult  than  in  most  countries  — 
Ruinous  violations  of  this  important  ruie  are 
vet  frequent  from  temper  and  impatience — 
\    thing  is  more  common  than  a  persistanee 
in  ploughing.,  making  hay.  cutting  wheat,  and 
other  works,  when  a  small  delay  might  have 
a  great  loss :  and  the  labour  employed 
to  destroy,  would  have  been  employed  to  save. 
Crops  of  all  kinds  are  often  planted  or  sown  at 
improj  er  periods  or  unseasonably,  in  relation 
to  the  sate  of  the  weather,  to  their  detriment 
or  destruction,  from  the  want  of  an  arrange- 
ment of  the  w oik  on    a  farm,   calculated   for 
ciesofit  precisely  at  theperi- 
.  and  in  the  seasons,  moat  likely  to  enhance 
profit. 

ird  item  in  the  economy  of  agriculture 


OF   AGRICULTURE.  239 

is  noi  to  kill  time  by  doing  the  same  thing  twice 
over.  Hdweverlaboriously  at  work,  we  are  do- 
ing nothing  during  one  of  the  operations,  &  fre- 
quently worse  than  nothing,  on  account  of  the 
double  detriment  of  tools,  teams  ami  clothing. 
The  losses  to  farmers  occasioned  by  this  error, 
ace  prodigious  under  every  defective  system  of 
agriculture,  and  under  ours  are  enormously 
enhanced  by  the  habit  of  sharing  in  the  crop 
with  an  annual  overseer.  Shifts  and  contri- 
vances innumerable  are  resorted  to,  for  saving 
present  time,  by  bad  and  perishable  work,  at 
an  enormous  loss  of  future  time,  until  at  length 
the  several  fragments  of  time  thus  destroyed, 
visibly  appeal-  spread  over  a  farm,  in  the  form 
©f  ruined  houses,  fences,  orchards  and  soil ; 
demonstrating  that  every  advantage  of  such 
shifts  is  the  parent  of  many  disadvantages,  and 
that,  a  habit  of  finishing  every  spe  :oXf>f  work 
in  the  best  mode,  is  the  best  economy. 

The  high  importance  of  this  article  of  agri- 
cultural economy,  demands  an  illustration. — 
Let  us  suppose  that  dead  wood  fencing  will 
consume  ten  per  centum  of  a  farmer's  time, 
Which  supposit  ion  devotes  about  thirty-six  days 
in  the  year  to  that  object.  It  would  cost  him 
five  whole  years  in  fifty.  If  his  farm  afforded 
stone,  and  his  force  could  in  one  whole  year 
make  his  inelosurcs  of  that  lasting  material, 
he  would  save  four  whole  years  by  this  more 
perfect  operation  ;  exclusive  of  the  benefits 
gained  by  a  longer  life,  or  transmit  fed  to  his 
posterity.  If  his  farm  did  not  furnish  stone, 
as  live  fences  can  he  made  with  infinitely  less 
labour  than  stone,  his  saving  of  time  Would  he 
greater  by  raising  them,  hut  the  donation  to 
posterity  less,  from  their  more  perishable  na- 
ture,    it  seems  to  me  that  the  time  neccssarv 


2'td  THE     ECONOMY 

to  rear  and  repair  li\c  fences,  i*  lcs>  than  «>ih* 
tenth  of  that  consumed  by  those  of  dead  wood. 
By  doing  this  article  of  work  in  a  mode  thus 

assing  the  present  miserable  fencing  sh 
in  use,  our-  farmers  would  gain  the  enorm 
I  of  four  years  and  an  half  in  fifty*  and  an 
e  country  that  of  nine  years  in  each  hun- 
dred.    Tine  constitutes  profit  or  loss  in  agri- 
culture, and  many  other  employments.     £: 
an  enormous  loss  is  itsell  -obank- 

nipt  the  soil  of  a  fine  country.     T  med 

into  an  equivalent  gain,  the  difference  of  eigh- 
teen :  urn  to  the  same  country  might 
trievc  if.     The  case  simply  consists  of  the  dif- 
ference between    pacing  and  receiving  enor- 
mous usury,  for  the  sake  of  growing  rich. 

I  hare  selected  a  few  items  merely  to  attract 
the  reader's  attention  to  the  economy  of  agri- 
culture, that  his  own  sagacity  may  pursue  the 
suhjeet  hfMJnd  the  limits  assigned  to  these  es- 
says. It  is  one  highly  necessary  to  all  practi- 
cal men,  and  worthy  of  the  minute  considera- 
tion of  the  most  profound  mind;  nor  do  I  kno^ 
one  exhibiting  to  experience  and  talents  a 
stronger  invitation  to  make  themselves  useful. 


OF    AGiUefJLTUUE.  £11 

NUMBER  b9. 

FLEASURES   OT  AGRICULTURE. 

In  free  countries  are  more,  and  in  pn-laved, 
fewer,  than  the  pleasures  of  most  other  em- 
ployments. The  reason  of  it  is,  that  agricul- 
ture both  from  its  nature,  and  also  as  being  ge- 
nerally the  employment  of  a  great  portion  of 
a  nation,  cannot  he  united  with  power  consi- 
dered as  an  exclusive  interest.  It  must  of 
course  be  enslaved.  ^Yhcrever  despotism  exists, 
and  its  masters  will  enjoy  more  pleasures  in 
that  case,  than  it  ran  ever  reach.  On  the 
contrary,  where  power  is  not  an  exclusive,  but 
a  genera]  interest,  agriculture  can  employ  its 
own  energies  for  the  attainment  of  its  own 
happiness 

Under  a  free  government  it  has  before  it, 
the  inexhaustible  »  of  human  pleasure, 

of  fitting  ideas  to  substances,  am!  substances 
to  ideas  :  and  of  a  constant  rotation  of  hope 
and  fruition. 

The  novelly.  frequency  and  exactness  of  ac- 
commodation* between  our  ideas  and  operati- 
on,  constitutes  the  most  exquisite  souree  of 
mental  pleasure.     Agriculture  feeds  it  with 
endless  supplies  in  the  natures  of  soils,  plants 
climates,  manures,  instruments  of  culture  and 
domestic  animals.     Their  combinations  are 
inexhaustible,  the  novelty  of  results  is  endless* 
discrimination   ami  adaption  arc  never  idle 
and  an  unsatiated  interest  receives  gratificati- 
ons in  qiiick  succession. 

Benevolence  is  s(>  closely  associated  witfc 
this  interest,  that  its  exertion  in  numberless 

Oi 


2i2  THE   PLEASriiES 

instances,  is  necessary  to  foster  it.  Liberality 
in  supplying  its  labourers  with  the  comforts 
of  l|fe,  is  the  best  sponsor  for  the  prosperity  of 
agriculture,  and  the  practice  of  almost  every 
moral  virtue  is  amply  remunerated  in  this 
vol  Id,  whilst  it  is  also  the  best  surety  for  at- 
taining the  blessings  of  the  next.  Poetry  in 
allowing  more  virtue  to  agriculture,  than  to 
any  other  profession,  has  abandoned  her  privi- 
lege of  fiction,  and  yielded  to  the  natural  mo- 
ral effect  of  the  absence  of  temptation.  The 
same  fact  is  commemorated  by  religion,  upon 
an  occasion  the  most  solemn,  within  the  scope 
of  the  human  imagination.  At  the  aw  fill  day 
of  judgment,  the  discrimination  of  the  good 
from  the  wicked,  is  not  made  by  the  criterion 
of  sects  or  of  dogmas,  but  by  one  which  con- 
stitutes the  daily  employment  and  the  great 
end  of  agriculture.  The  judge  upon  this  oc- 
casion has  by  anticipation  pronounced,  that  to 
feed  the  hungry,  clothe  the  naked,  and  give 
drink  to  the  thirsty,  are  the  passports  to  fu- 
rore happiness:  and  the  divine  intelligence 
which  selected  an  agricultural  state  as  a  para- 
dise for  its  first  favorites,  has  here  again  pre- 
scribed the  agricultural  virtues  as  the  means 
for  the  admission  of  their  posterity  into  hea- 
ven. 

With  the  pleasures  of  religion,  agriculture 
unites  those  of  patriotism,  and  among  the  wor- 
thy competitors  for  pre-eminence  in  the  prac- 
tice of  this  cardinal  virtue,  a  profound  author 
aligns  a  high  station  tohim  who  has  made  two 
blades  of  grass  grow  instead  of  one  ;  an  idea  ca- 
pable of  a  signal  amplification,  by  a  comparison 
between  a  system  of  agriculture  which  doubles 
the  fertility  of  a  country,  and  a  successful  war 
which  doubles  its  territory.    By  the  lirst  the 


0*  AGRICL'LITBE.  2*2 

territory  itsfilf  is  also  substantially -doubled, 
v:  icm  wasting  (he  lives,  the  wealth,  or  the 
liberljfcof  the  nation  which  has  thus  subdued 
sterility,  and  drawn  prosperity  from  a  willing 
source,  fty  the  second,  the  blood  pretended 
to  be  enriched,  is  spilt;  the  wealth  pretended 
to  be  increased,  is  wasted  ;  the  liberty  said  to 
be  secured,  is  immolated  to  the  patriotism  of 
a  victorious  army  ;  and  desolation  in  every 
form  is  made  to  staik  in  the  glittering  garb  of 
false  glory,  throughout  some  neighboring 
country.  Moral  law  decides  the  preference 
•with  undeviating  consistency,  in  assigning  to 
the  nation,  which  elects  true  patriotism,  the 
rccompence  of  truth,  and  to  the  electors  of  the 
false,  the  expiation  of  error.  To  the  respec- 
tive agents  the  same  law  assigns  the  remor- 
ses of  a  conqueror,  and  the  quiet  conscience  of 
the  -agriculturist. 

The  capacity  of  agriculture  for  affording 
luxuries  to  the  body,  is  not  less  conspicuous 
than  its  capacity  for  affording  luxuries  to  the 
mind  :  it  being  a  science  singularly  possessing 
the  double  qualities  of  feeding  with  unbound- 
ed liberality,  both  the  moral  appetites  of  the 
one,  and  the  physical  wants  of  the  other.  It 
can  even  feed  a  morbid  love  of  money,  whilst 
it  is  habituating  us  to  the  practice  of  virtue; 
and  whilst  it  provides  for  the  wants  of  the  phi- 
losopher, it  affords  him  ample  room  for  the 
most  curious  and  vet  useful  researches.  In 
short,  by  the  exercise  it  gives  both  to  the  body 
and  to  the  mind,  it  secures  health  and  vigor 
to  both  ;  and  by  combining  a  thorough  know- 
ledge of  the  real  affairs  of  life,  with  a  neces- 
sity for  investigating  the  arcana  of  nature,  and 
the  strongest  invitations  to  the  practice  of  mo- 
rality, it  becomes  the  best  architect  of  a  com- 
plete man. 


*ii  THE    PLEASURES 

If  this  eulogy  should  succeed  in  awakening 
the  attention  of  men  of  science  to  a  skilful 
practice  of  agriculture,  they  will  become  mo- 
dels for  Individ  uals,  and  guardians  for  national 
happiness.  The  discoveries  of  the  learned 
will  be  practiced  by  the  ignorant  :  and  a  sys- 
tem which  sheds  happiness,  plenty  aud  virtue 
all  around,  will  he  gradually  substituted  for 
oue,  which  fosters  vice,  breeds  want  and  be- 
gets misery. 

Politi  ho  ought  to  know  the  most, 

and  generally  know  the  least,  of  a  science  in 
which  the  United  .States  are  more  deeply  in- 
terested than  in  any  other)  viL  appear,  of 
more  practical  knowledge,  or  at  least  of  bet- 
ter theoretical  instruction ;  and  1  he  hopeless 
habit  of  confiding  our  greatest  interest  to  peo- 
ple most  ignorant  of  it.  will  be  abandoned. 

The  errors  of  politicians  ignorant  pf  agri- 
culture, or  their  projects  designed  to  oppress 
it.  can  only  rob  it  of  its  pleasures,  and  consign 
it  to  contempt  and  misery.  This  revolution 
of  its  natural  state,  is  invariably  affected  by 
war.  armies,  heavy  taxes  or  exclusive  privi- 
leges, In  two  cases  alone,  have  nations-  ever 
gained  any  thing  by  war.  Those  of  repelling 
invasion,  and  emigrating  into  a  more  fruitful 
territory.  In  ev^ry  othev  case,  the  industri- 
ous of  all  professions  suffer  by  war,  the  effi 
of  which  in  its  modern  form,  are  precisely  the 
same  to  the  victorious  and  the  vanquished  na- 
tion. The  least  evil  to  be  apprehended 
fr  m  victorious  armies*  is  a  permanent  sys- 
tem of  heavy  taxation,  than  whieh,  nothing 
tan  more  vitally  wound  or  hill  the  pleasure* 
agriculture.  Of  the  same  stamp  are  exclusive 
privileges  in  every  form  :  aud  to  pillage  or 
steal  under  ihc  sanction  of  the  statute  book* 


OF  AGKICTITUHE.  245 

is  no  less  fatal  to  the  happiness  of  agriculture, 
than  the  hierarchical  tyranny  over  the  soul, 
under  the  pretended  sanction  of  God,  or  the 
feudal  tyranny  over  tffe  body,  under  the  equal- 
ly fraudulent  pretence  of  defending  the  nation. 
In  a  climate  and  soil,  where  good  culture  ne- 
ver fails  to  beget  plenty,  where  had  cannot  pro- 
duce famine,  Begirt  by  nature  against  the 
risque  of  invasion,  and  favored  by  accident 
with  the  power  of  self  government,  agricul- 
ture can  only  lose  its  happiness  by  the  folly  or 
fraud  of  statesmen,  or  by  its  own  ignorance. 


1\6  THE  RIGHT* 

NTJMBER  60. 

THE    RIGHTS    OF    A  GRICULTfP.E  . 

It  is  lamentable  to  confess,  that  this,  to  be 
a  true,  must  be  almost  a  negative  number. — 
This  most  useful  and  virtuous  interest,  enjoys 
no  rights,  except  in  the  United  States  :  and 
there  it  enjoys  no  exclusive  rights,  whilst  the 
few  in  which  it  shares  are  daily  contracted  by 
the  various  arts  of  ambition  and  avarice.  E- 
vcry  where  el«e;  agriculture  is  a  slave  :  here 
she  is  only  a  dupe.  Abroad  she  is  condemned. 
by  avowed  force  to  feed  voluptuousness,  ava- 
rice and  ambition  :  here,  she  is  deluded  by 
flattery  and  craft,  during  fits  of  joy  or  of  fury, 
to  squander  her  property,  to  mortgage  her  la- 
bourers, and  to  shackle  her  freedom.  Abroad, 
she  suffers  contempt,  and  is  sensible  of  her 
degradation  ;  here,  she  is  a  blind  Quixote, 
mounted  on  a  wooden  horse,  and  persuaded  by 
the  acclamations  of  her  foes,  that  she  is  soar- 
ing to  the  stars,  whilst  she  is  ready  to  tumble 
into  the  dust. 

Privileges  are  rearing  by  laws  all  around  at 
her  expence,  and  whilst  she  is  taught  to  be- 
lieve that  they  will  only  lake  from  her  a  few 
inconsiderable  slipes,  they  will  at  length  draw 
a  spacious  circumvallation,  within  which  w  ill 
gradually  grow  up  a  power,  beyond  her  con- 
trol. Tricks,  as  well  as  inventions,  are  daily 
fortified  with  legal  bulwarks,  called  charters, 
to  transfer  her  wealth,  and  to  secure  frauds 
against  her  efforts.  Capital  in  every  form, 
save  that  of  agriculture,  is  fed  by  taxes  and  by 
bounties,  -which  she  must  pay  :  whilst  not  a 


Of  AGRICVVrrilE.  217 

single  bounty  is  paid  to  her  by  capital  in  any 
form  ;  and  instead  of  being  favored  with  some 
prizes  in  the  lottery  of  society,  she  pays  most, 
and  is  rewarded  herself  by  the  blanks  of  un- 
derwriting the  projects  of  statesmen,  and  bear- 
ing the  burthens  of  government. 

The  use  of  society,  is  to  secure  the  fruits  of 
his  own  industry  and  talents  to  each  assoeiator. 
Its  abuse  consists  in  artiiice  or  force,  for  trans- 
ferring those  fruits  from  some  partners  to  o- 
thers.  Of  this  abuse,  that  interest  covering 
the  majority  of  partners  is  the  victim.  And 
the  difficulty  of  discriminating  laws,  transfer- 
ring such  fruits  for  the  benefit  of  society,  from 
those  having  in  view  the  gratification  of  ava- 
rice and  ambition,  produces  a  sympathy  and 
combination  between  these  distinct  kinds  <#f 
law.  As  the  members  of  the  government, 
and  the  members  of  legal  frauds,  both  extract 
power  and  income  from  the  majority,  they  arc 
apt  to  coalesce ;  and  each  party  to  favor  the 
designs  of  its  ally,  in  their  operations  upon  the 
common  enemy.  Hence  governments  love  t» 
create  exclusive  rights,  and  exclusive  rights 
cling  to  governments.  The  ligament  of  pa- 
rent and  child,  binds  them  together,  and  the 
power  creating  these  abuses,  must  make  them 
props  for  its  support,  or  instruments  for  its 
subversion.  Its  election  between  these  alter- 
natives is  certain,  and  society  is  thus  unavoid- 
ably thrown  into  two  divisions.  One  contain- 
ing all  those  who  pay,  «\.  the  other  those  who  re- 
ceive contributions,  required  either  for  public 
use,  or  to  foster  private  avarice  or  ambition, 
(iood  government  is  graduated  by  this  latter 
kind  of  contribution  thus  unfortunately  allied 
to  the  former.  The  highest  amount  consti- 
tutes the  worst,  and  the  lowest,  the  best  possi- 


<£*$  THE  RIGHTS 

ble  species  of  government.  But  as  both  are 
drawn  from  the  majority  of  every  society, 
whenever  the  agricultural  interest  covers  that 
majority,  this  interest  is  the  victim  of  the  co- 
alition ;  and  as  it  almost  universally  docs  co- 
ver this  majority,  the  agricultural  interest  is 
almost,  universally  its  slave. 

The  consequences  to  agriculture  will  be  de- 
monstrated by  converting  this  coalition  be- 
tween government  and  its  creatures,  or  of  all 
who  receive  tolls  given  by  law,  into  a  political 
pope,  and  placing  in  his  mouth  an  address  to 
agriculture,  in  a  parody  of  Ernulphus's  forni 
of  excommunication. 

"May  you  be  taxed  in  your  lands,  your  slaves, 
your  houses,  jour  carriages,  your  horses,  your 
clothing,  your  liquors,  your  coffee,  your  tea,  & 
your  salt.  May  you  be  taxed  by  banks,  by  pro- 
tecting duties,  by  embargoes,  and  by  charters 
of  a  thousand  different  forms.  May  the  exemp- 
tion of  your  exports  from  taxation  be  removed, 
and  may  you  then  be  taxed  through  your 
wheat,  your  corn,  your  tobacco,  your  cotton* 
your  rice,  your  indigo,  your  sugar,  your  hemp, 
your  live  stock,  your  beef,  your  pork,  your  tar, 
pitch  and  turpentine,  your  onions,  your  cheese, 
and  your  potatoes.  May  yon  be  taxed  for  the 
support  of  govt  riiraent,  or  to  enrich  exclusive 
or  chartered  interests,  through  every  article 
you  import,  and  through  every  article  you  ex- 
port, by  duties  called  prelecting,  bul  intended 
to  take  away  your  constitutional  protection 
against  taxation  for  the  benefit  of  capit;? 
May  you  be  taxed  through  every  article  pro- 
duced by  your  labour  or  neeessar  to  vour 
subsi-  -  ••',  comfort  and  pleasure.  by 
And  whilst  even  -  of  your-produeis,  and 

«f  your  consumptions  are  thus  taxed,  may  your 


OF  AGBICUI/rFRE.  iL'tV 

capital,  being  visible,  be  moreover  taxed  in 
various  modes.     May  all  these  taxes  whether 
plain  or  intricate;  (after  deducting  the  small 
sum  necessarv  to  produce  the  genuine  end  of 
society)  be  employed  in  enriching  capitalists, 
and  buying  soldiers,  placemen  and  contractors, 
to  make  you   submissive  to  usurpations,  and 
as  quiet  under  your  burthens,  as  a  martyr  tied 
to  the  stake,    under   the  Amies.     After  you 
have  been  taxed  as  far  as  you  cun  pay.  may 
you  by  the  bounty  of  God  Almighty  be  moreo- 
ver mortgaged  up  to  your  value  or  credit,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  said  coalition  of  capital; 
Ami  finally,  may  none  of  this  good  and  useful 
coalition,  to  whom  is  given  the  wealth  of  this 
world,  as  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  to  the  p 
and  his  clergy,  be  taxed  in  their  stock  or  prin- 
cipal held  under  any  law  or  charter  whatsoe- 
ver: nor  in  their  capital  employed  in  any  manu- 
facture or  speculation,  nor  in  any  prolit  drawn 
from  such  principal  stock  or  capital;  nor  thro1 
any  of  their  sinecures,  salaries,  contracts  or 
incomes  ;  but  on  the  contrary,  may  such  stock, 
principal,  capital,  profits,   salaries,  contracts, 
and  sinecures, he  constantly  fostered  by  bounties 
in  various  injurious  form  s,tti  be  paid  by  you,  you 
danined dirty  working,  productive  bitch,  agri- 
culture."  Throughout  the  world,  agriculture, 
like  one  of  Ernulphus's  contrite  excommuni- 
cants.  responds,  amen,  to  this  pious  invocation. 
Throughout  the  world,  agriculture  has  en- 
joyed, and  in  England,  continues  to  enjoy,  one 
of  the  sights  in  which  she  has  a  share  in  the 
United  States  :  tbat  of  a  voice  in  elections, — 
And  throughout  the  world,  this 

!c    to    shield   her  against  an  anatjiema, 
h  prescri  erfect  a  hell, 

the  formula  ofErnuIphus  prescribes 
here  lick.     Let  the  agncultura 


TITX  RIGHT? 

State?,  pause  here  and  look  around. 
I-   i    littd  confidence  in  a  rigtil  er-allv 

ineflfeetnal,  a  sufficient  safegoa  its  free- 

dom and  that  an 

uever  be  long  free,  which  blindly 
eontides  in  a  coalition,  it  i«todraw 

rand  wealth.      1 
! 
and  a?  w  atcl,  .  e  minor 

into:  dare  it.     And  that  agriculture 

lj  keep  1  ;pon  the  eo- 

n.  to  avoid  it*  operations  upon  her.  as  the 
eoali  i  lie  purpose 

ef  transf        -  -  of  her 

iJ  wealth,  wh  -      - . 

II  ieal  suggestions 

be  found  i  I 

much  good  in  an  ruent  of  agriculture, 

togetluxur  ^:.<]  tyranny  for 

a  f  tchedness  for  a  multitude. — 

Th-  lie  \*orld,  a- 

bounds  s  and  thieves,     -Agri- 

[itieian  t  ale  ; 

-   to 
kn<  ss  intend  by  persuad- 

ind  confidence,  built 

:i  the  frai  .n.  to  expose  her 

to  i'       1  t,  if 

she  ures, 

lie  light  of  1. 

^upinen- 
iappines«  »  .  be- 

•  f  course 
it   i 

^ued  to  obstruct  it. 

moa\uth  all  other  k 


OF  AGHICrXTtKE.  251 


eats,  haying  any  thing  to  export,  is  bestowed  by 
the  constitutional  prohibition  of  duties  upon  ex- 
ports. This  right  originated  in  state  jealousies, 
&  not  from  a  disposition  to  favour  agriculture  ; 
but  yet  it  is  her  best  security,  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  that  portion  of  our  government,  which 
will  longest  be  sensible  of  her  elective  influence; 
&itsrclimjuishmeut  will  bcthcmostfatal  wound 
which  can  be  inftieted  on  her.     The  coalition  I 
have  described  will  try  every  art  in  her  most  un- 
guarded* moments,  to  snateh  it  from  her,  and  it 
will  he  the  last  relinquishment  it  will  need.  To 
determine  whether  her  elective  inlluence    can 
bear  further  wounds.  let  agriculture  re-survey 
the  legislation  of  our  whole  term  of  independence 
and  compare  the  catalogues  she  may  select,  of 
laws  for  creating  or  fosl  ering  privileges  and  ex- 
clusive interests,  with  those  for  fostering  her- 
self; and  let  this  comparison  form  the  criterion 
for  ascertaining  her  legislative  influence.  Thus 
only  can  she  judiciously  increase  this  influence, 
if  it  has  settled  too  low,  or  diminish  it,  if  it  has 
raised  too  high.     There  is  no  fair  mode  of 
judging,  except  by  these  legislative  acts.     To 
infer,  that  the  agricultural  interest  influences 
legislatures,   heeausc   it  chiefly  elects  them, 
would  be,   like  infering,  that  the  French  nati- 
on influences  the  tribunate, because  they  whol- 
ly elect  it.     Let   agriculture  therefore  hold 
fast  the  solitary  security  she  enjoys  in  common 
■with    her  industrious   associates,   against  the 
ambition  of  usurpers,  and  the  avarice  of  capi- 
talists, nor  be  deluded  into  the  absurd  notion, 
that  it  is  wise  to  relinquish  the  only  peculium 
of  industry,  for  the  sake  of  some  temporary 
operation  upon  foreign  nations,  inevitably  re- 
sulting upon  herself  in  the  form  of  retaliation, 
whilst  the  protection  of  exports  against  taxa- 
tion, will  be  gone  forever. 


252  ASiUCrLTLttE 

NUMBER  61. 

E    AXD  THE   MIXITfA — 

The  rocks  of  our  salvation  ;  as  they  are 
called  by  legislatures,  presidents  governor?; 
and  toast- makers,  throughout  the  United 
Slates  ;  and  hard  rocks  indeed  they  need  be, 
to  withstand  ihe  saws,  wedges,  and^hisels, 
made  bylaw,  to  eat,  split  and  chip  them  to 
piec<  --.  It  is  provable  that  more  {<:h-nts  were 
wasted  upon  <he  hank  of  the  United  States, 
:it  each  of  its  epochs,  than  have  been  expend- 
ed for  the  improvement  of  these  national  for- 
tresses, for  securing  wealth  and  independence, 
since  the  revolution.  Edihce,  after  edifice, 
lias  been  raised  upon  their  ruins  ;  but  the  new 
structures  resemble  the  venerable  fabricks 
from  w  hence  they  are  torn,  as  the  modern  huts 
raised  of  its  ruins  resemble  the  ancient  city  of 
Palinyra. 

A  pernicious  little  army,  (pernicious  as  con- 
stituting a  reason  for  neglecting  the  militia)  a 
species  of  marine  preparation,  whose  most 
striking  features  are  deciry,  imbecility  and 
expenee  :  and  an  awful  unconstitutional  pre- 
i -edent,  for  reporting  to  a  volunteer  militia, 
officered  by  the  President  instead  ci  the  States, 
have  dismantled  one  fm  tress,  and  all  the  arts 
to  enrich  capital  and  speculation  legerdemain* 
Fry  paper,  at  t  hf-  exp«  nee  of  property  and  in- 
dustry, as  practiced  in  England,  are  playing 
upon  the  other. 

When  the  future  historian  of  our  republic, 
«hall  search  for  acts  of  patriotism,  and  matter 
"for  biography,  the  contrast  between  the  heroes 


AND    TirE   MILITIA.  J.cl> 

who  have  created,  and  the  politicians  who 
have  ruined  a  nation,  will  afford  him  ample 
room  for  exhausting  the  strongest  phrases  of 
eulogy  and  censure.  The  first  was  not  effect- 
ed hy  enfeebling  the  heart,  nor  will  the  second 
he  avoided  hy  impoverishing  the  soil  and  its 
cultivators  ;  hy  beguiling  the  militia  of  its 
power  and  importance,  with  substitutions 
founded  in  the  pretext  of  diminishing  its  duty, 
hut  preparing  the  means  of  usurpation  for 
some  ambitious  president ;  and  hy  taxing  agri- 
culture in  various  crafty  modes,  under  pro- 
tence  of  enriching  it,  hut  iu  fact  to  enrich  ca- 
pitalists at  its  expence. 

The  patriots  of  the  revolution  have  chiefly  re- 
tired to  the  enjoyment  of  a  treasure,  deposited 
beyond  the  schemes  of  craft,  leaving  to  their 
successors  two  spacious  fields  as  productive  of 
glory,  as  the  field  of  war  was  to  them.  Far 
from  exhausting  the  resources  for  gaining  the 
transporting  consciousness  of  having  benefit- 
ted our  country,  they  left  for  these  successors 
the  creation  of  a  proud  militia  and  a  fertile 
country,  as  equally  meriting  national  admira- 
tion and  gratitude,  with  the  feats  which  se- 
cured our  independence,  and  placed  prosperity 
wit  bin  our  reach.  But  of  what  avail  is  it,  that 
one  set  of  patriots  should  have  cutaway  the 
causes  which  enfeebled  our  militia,  and  im- 
poverished our  agriculture,  if  another  does  not 
enable  us  to  reap  from  their  valour  the  rewards 
which  excited  it  ?  After  wading  through  the 

calamitiesofwarnearto  these  rewards,  tore j*>ct 
them,  one  by  neglect,  and  the  other  by  the  pre- 
ference of  a  harpy  which  a' ways  cats  and  never 
feeds,  seems  only  consistent  with  the  policy  of 
the  British  parliament,.which  excited  the  re- 
sistance of  the  revolutionary  heroes.  Had 
o. 


■254  AGRICULTURE 

•  hey  been  told  that  they  were  fighting  to  de- 
stroy the  militia,  and  to  make  agriculture  food 
for  charter  and  paper  capital,  they  would  have 
discerned  no  reason  for  making  theinsehes 
food  for  powder. 

It  would  he  easy  to  shew  that  agriculture 
never  can  experience  fair  treatment  without  a 
nd  militia,  but  it  is  a  subject  too  extensive 
and  important  to  be  considered  in  this  light 
way,  und  therefore  they  are  only  exhibited 
in  union,  isi  the  concluding  essay,  to  remind 
the  reader,  that  they  are  political  twins,  one 
lioui  never  lives  long  free,  after  the  o.  I 

Executive,  legislative  and  festive  encomi- 
ums of  these  twins,  which  ought  to  he  called 
••  Liberty  and  prosperity,"  though  the  unhap- 
py delusions  of  fervour,  produce  the  knavish 
effects  of  flattery;  they  prevent  us  from  ac- 
quiring a  militia  and  an  agriculture,  which 
deserve  praise,  (false  praise  always  excludes 
real  merit)  and  keep  us  without  laws  for  rais- 
ing either  to  mediocrity,  much  less  to  perfec- 
tion. I  do  not  believe  that  these  encomiums 
are  generally  the  artifices  of  deliberate  ^ice 
and  secret  purpose,  to  impose  upon  the  enthu- 
siastic and  unwary,  in  pursuance  of  the  pre- 
cedents so  often  exhibited  b\  rapacious  priests 
ek  thed  in  the  garb  of  sanctity  :  but  ^et  rapa- 
ciiy  may  sometimes  assume  the  language  of 
patriotism,  to  keep  the  people  blind  to  the 
dangers  which  threaten.,  and  to  the  measure* 
v-Lich  can  save  them. 

The  good  humour  of  the  festive  board  will 
Lear  illustrations    of  these    assertions,   with 

discomfort   than  cold  design,  or   deluded 
negligence;  and  therefore  however  ineoasis- 

:t  maj  be  with  the  gravity  and  importance 


AND    THE    MILITIA.  23,? 

of  our  subject,  an  aversion  for  giving  pain  (o 
any  one,  induces  me  to  supply  it  with  the  fol- 
lowing toasts. 

THE  JIILITLl....The  Bock  of  our  Liberty. 

Unarmed,  undisciplined,  and  without  uni- 
formity, substituted  by  an  ineffectual  na- 
vy, an  ineffectual  army,  and  paper  volun- 
teers, ofReered  by  the  president. 

Unpatronized  even  at  the  expence  of  a  gun 
boat. 

Flattered  and  despised. 

Taught  self  contempt,  instead  of  a  proud 
and  erect  spirit. — *Vme  cheers. 

AGBICULTUBE....The  fountain  of  our 
wealth. 

A  land  killer. 

A  payer  of  bounties  and  receiver  of  none. 

A  beautifier  of  towns  and  a  sacrifice!"  of  the 
country. 

A  cultivator  for  stock,  without  stock  for  cul- 
livaiion. 

Giving  its  money  to  those  who  will  give  it 
flattery. 

A  weight  in  the  legislative  scales  of  the  li- 
nked Stales,  as  much  heavier  than  a  fea- 
ther, as  a  feather  is  heavier  (ban  nothing. 

Its  labour  steeped  in  an  infusion  of  thievery, 
dissatisfaction  and  sedition,  by  a  mixture 
of  bond  and  free  negroes. 

Producing  40,000,000  dollars  annually  for 
exportation,  bearing  most  taxes  for  pub- 
lic benefit,  and  taxed  in  various  modes 
for  the  private  benefit  of  300,000,000  dol- 
lars worth  of  Capitalists  who  pay  no  taxes. 

Out  of  a  remnant  of  the  40,000,000  dollars 


256      AGRICTJITURE  AND  THE    MILITIA^ 

exported,  compelled  by  protecting  dutie3 
to  pay  heavy  bounties  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  manufactures,  already  amount- 
ing to  above  150,000,000  dollars  annual- 
ly.— *Yine  cheers  more. 
A  few  words,  at  parting,  to  the  reader,  will 
close  these  essays.  If  he  is  of  the  courteous 
nature  which  loves  to  give  and  to  receive  flat- 
tery ;  or  if  his  interest  tugs  hi  in  violently 
against  them,  he  may  disbelieve  the  plainest 
truths  they  contain,  or  at  least  reject  them  as 
being  told  in  too  blunt  a  style.  If  he  is  igno- 
rant of  agriculture  or  a  devotee  of  a  party  or 
an  idol,  he  will  rather  presume,  that  our  agri- 
culture is  perfect  and  undefrauded,  than  take 
the  trouble  of  enabling  himself  to  judge  ;  or 
silently  swallow  the  grossest  errors,  than  give 
up  his  superstition.  These  papers  never  con- 
templated the  desperate  hope  of  obtaining  the 
attention  of  any  one  of  these  characters.— 
Half  the  profit  of  agriculture,  must  undoubt- 
edly convince  the  several  tribes  of  capitalists, 
that  it  flourishes  exceedingly.  The  idolator 
will  rather  embrace  the  stake  than  truth,  and 
the  agriculturist  who  prefers  ignorance  to 
knowledge,  though  these  hasty  essays  consti- 
tuted a  complete  system  of  husbandry,  would 
be  as  little  benefitted  by  them,  as  a  lawyer  or 
a  physician  who  practised  by  deputy,  would  be 
by  the  reports  of  Coke,  or  the  dispensatory  of 
Cullen.  Yet  to  those  who  would  think  and  en- 
quire, opinions  slowly  and  cautiously  admit- 
ted, upon  various  views  of  national  interest, 
without  a  motive  likely  to  mislead  or  deceive, 
might  afford  suggestions  capable  of  becoming 
subservient  to  better  talents,  awakened  to  the 
discussion  of  subjects  so  momentous  to  national 
happiness.  To  awaken  such,  was  the  summit 
©f  tb«  author's  design.     [Note  G.J 

Library 


JfOTES,  237 


r^QTES. 


[Note  A.] 

Upon  a  review  of  the  foregoing  essays,  originally' 
offered  to  the  public  in  a  newspaper,  without  fore- 
seeing that  they  would  appear  in  a  book,  a  few  ex- 
pressions have  been  expunged,  lest  their  political  doc- 
trines should  be  ascribed  to  party  motives. — These 
proceeded  from  an  opinion,that  the  inculcation  cfscund 
political  principles,  was  the  only  mode  ot'avoiding  the 
evils  incident  to  a  blind  zeal  in  favour  of  the  projects 
of  any  set  of  men  exercising  power  ;  or  of  preserving 
a  consistency  between  professions  and  actions.  To 
an  union  between  public  interest  and  public  know- 
ledge, the  world  is  indebted  for  the  beutfit  it  has  de- 
rived from  the  Grecian  and  Roman  republics,  and 
to  the  want  of  such  an  union,  the  regions  which  once 
lined  them,  for  their  present  state  <  f  si  very. — 
No  :ssociatinn  to  inflict  or  to  avoid  oppression,  can 
succeed,  if  it  is  ignorant  of  the  means  for  procuring 
success  irr  both  objects      Political  knowledge  is  as 

sssary  tojtfte  people  for  one   end,  as  to  princes, 
orders,  I  I  usurpers  tor  the  other,     With- 

out i'  "he  soil  in  tlir  United  States,  must 

gradually  become  the  slaves  of  some  legal  aristocra- 
and, «  xprsed  by  political  ignorance  to  the  rapine 
ofanjendh  g  ue  of  exclusive  factiti  us  interests, 

I  I  soon  resemble  moo  keys  stiTpt  b*y  the  superior 
'igence  <f  man,  of  diamqitds  they  had  dug  out  of 
the   c.-.rth.     As   agriculture  with    its  dependencies, 
almost  covers*.  pu  >  ic  interest  of  the  U.States, 

so  degrading  a  consequence  of  its  political  ignorance, 
demonstrates  how  intimate  i*~  c  Onexion  ought  to  be 
with  p<  lilies.  The  first  produces;  the  latter  secures. 
Exclusive  political  knowlc.'gt ,  creates  exclusive  le- 
gal A.  comph  te  agricultural  treatise, 
would  comprise  the  s  un  ie  t  agricultural  prii  c:. 
chymical,  experimental  an.',  political;  and  tin  iini- 

•   of  the  two  first  items  might  be  more  plausibly 


25  S  W0TE3. 

asserted,  because  they  only  teach,  men  how  tolabourr 
than  that  of  the  last,  which  teaches  them  how  to  live 
happily. 

Funding,  legal  enrichment  of  all  kinds,  and  the 
perpetual  effort  of  those  who  exercise  power  to  in- 
crease   it,    may    here,   as    every   where    else,  en- 
slave the  majority  and  the  public  interest.     By  fund- 
ing only,  agriculture  may  be  soon  made  tributary  to 
the  dealers  in  credit,  chiefly  located  by  the  nature 
of  their  employment  in  a  few  large  cities.    The  dis- 
persed situation  of  the  agricultural  and  of  every  ge- 
neral interest,  renders  its  share  of  the  vast  acquisi- 
tions to  be  made  by  the  credit  trade,  trifling  ;    and 
the  circumstance  of  its  constituting  the  chief  item  of 
the  general  interest,  renders  its  share  of  the  contri- 
butions to  support  it,   enormous.     It  is  a  trade   for 
getting  premiums  and  interest  without  money,  upon 
the  credit  of  those  who  pay  both  ;    and  for  inflicting 
an  annual  tribute  on  those  who  have  the  credit,  until 
they  prove  its  goodness  by  paying  coin  for  paper.     If 
agriculture  or  the  public  interest  borrows  ten  milli- 
ons in  paper  notes,  furnished  by  the  partnership  be- 
tween banking  and  funding,  at  a  premium  of  ten  per 
centum  and  an  annual  interest  of  six,  in  fifteen  years 
it  pavs  a  sum  in  specie,  equal  to  the  debt,  but  both 
the  debt  and  annual  tribute  still  remain.     The  pub- 
lic interest  cannot  transform  itself  into  an  exclusive 
interest  for  carrying  en  this  credit  trade,  because  it 
must  be  the  payer  not  the  receiver  ;  nor  can  it  have 
anv  thing  of  consequence  to  lend,  because  the  pro- 
jects requiring  loans,  incapacitate  it  for  a   lender, 
especially  so  far  as  it  is  agricultural.    A  liability  to 
pay,  and'an  inability  to  lend,   generate  exactly  the 
same  relative  situation,  between  these  two  interests, 
which  subsists  between  two  nations,  when  ore  istri.. 
binary  to  the  other.     Upon  the  credit  of  this  liabili. 
ty,  that  of  the  paper  loaned  to  governments,  depends. 
The   government  in  fact  gives  the  public  credit  to 
associations  for  vending  paper  stock,  which  these 
associations  sell  back  to  the  government  for  a  good 
premium  and  a  perpetual  interest,  for  which  premi- 
um and  interest  the  only  consideration  they  pay,  is  an 
adherence  to  the  will  of  the  donor,   against  the  will 
of  the  public  interest,  by  which  the  donation  is  paid. 
The  impoverishment  produced  by  this  species  of  tri- 
bute, is  demonstrated  by  the  difference  in  the  price 
of  products  in  the  paying  and  receiving  districts,  by 


30i  259 

their  different  agricultural  appearances,  and  by  emi- 
grations. The  effects  of  a  tribute,  collected  in  dis- 
tant provinces  and  expended  at  particular  places, 
are  uniformly  the  same,  inflicted  either  by  a  tyrant 
or  a  patriot.  Ought  not  agriculture  to  undei stand 
this  political  machine  ? 

An  amendment  of  the  constitution  for  empower- 
ing the  general  government  to  tax  exports  and  to 
make  local  regulations,  would  comprise  a  boundless 
power  of  sacrificing  agricultural  and  exporting  dis- 
tricts to  the  interest  of  credit  dealers,  to  transitory 
political  projects  of  men  in  power,  and  to  tire  passions 
of  non-exporting  districts  ;  and  although  the  appa- 
rent favours  to  the  latter  would  be  delusive  and  en- 
trapping, they  would  suffice  to  divide  agriculture  it- 
self, into  two  parties  neutralizing  each  other's  de- 
fensive ability,  and  to  subject  both  like  all  large  inert 
bodies,  to  less  powerful,  but  mere  intelligent  and  ac- 
tive exdush  e  interest-'.  Ought  it  not  to  understand 
political  principles  to  meet  occurrences  of  this  kind  ? 

As  nointerest  covering  the  majority  of  a  nation  can 
avoid  oppression  except  under  a  free  form  of  govern- 
ment, because  the  end  of  every  other  form  is  to  foster 
partial  interests,  should  not  agriculture  be  able  to  see 
the  importance  of  maintaining  the  division  of  power  be- 
tween the  general  and  state  governments?  The  lat- 
ter are  her  intimate  associates  and  allies.  The  ge- 
neral government  is  already  in  a  far  greater  degree, 
the  associate  and  ally  of  patronage,  funding,  armies, 
and  of  many  other  interests  subsisting  upon  her.  If 
it  should  by  new  powers  be  enabled  to  enlist  still 
more  of  such  dangerous  auxiliaries,  or  to  break  over 
the  boundary  between  general  and  local  concerns*  in 
a  single  place,  the  breach  will  pr>  duce  consequences 
similar  to  those  produced  by  that  of  the  Tartars  in 
the  great  wall  of  the  Chinese. 

A  fanatical  love  or  hatred  of  individuals  rr   pat- 
ties, is  equally  inconsistent  with  a  free  form    of  go- 
vernment.    Political  enthusiasm  enslaves  parties  to 
leaders,  as  religious,  enslaves  sectaries  to  priests. — 
Politicians  never  love  or  hate  from  passion.    All  their 
ities   and   connexions  flow  from  interest,  accor- 
ding to  which  thev  reconcile  or  break  them,  wi 
any  of  those  sensibilities  excited  in  ignorance  by  its 
own  imaginary  idols.     As  this  idolatry  is  an  uoh 
cause  of  oppression,   should  the  truth  be  concealed 
from  agriculture,  that  she. a 


260  NOTES. 

ths:  ;ch  falsehood  and 

.  political  bigot 
-cer,  as  a 
e  pi  Lest 

The  s  e 
ture  - 

tice  or  ret  ;  .     The  : 

:e  author   has 
suggested  to  him,  :  to  the  im- 

. .-.nee  of  this  its  prospe 

and  happiness,  that  iing 


e  manage 

of  their  negiv :  :  :>nsequen : . 

n  cf  these  e  -:-  the 

possibility 
I 
efft "■:  never  m;-.. 

..pressiaE, 
- 
ed  by    1c  .    for 

the  regulation  of  slaves 

improver:  5si- 

I 
rtn.     A  fc 
agri 

D  the  mir 
fiuence,  ai  .han 

the  destruction  of  a  tyrant  can  over-rule  bad  pr: 
pies  the 

es  of  i  pprrssion.     T  on  of  a  f: 

- 

_s  overloekc        K 

by  iaw,  fcr  contri       _  -egulaiit:: 

which  aroul- 
t'.::~  are  pro- 


>vOTE&.  261 

Uuced,  together  with  the  ruinous  national  misfortune 
of  an  impoverishing  and  depopulating  system  of 
agriculture.  As  the  remedy  for  these  evils  lies  on- 
ly within  the  reach  of  law,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  go- 
vernment to  find  it.  Should  it  require  a  farther  limi- 
tation of  the  prerogatives  of  ownership,  publick  and 
private  good  will  unite  in  their  recommendation  of 
such  a  measure.  As  the  laws  now  stand,  an  owner, 
bv  withholding  from  his  slave  even  a  necessary  sub- 
sistence, may  compel  him  to  steal  it  from  others,  and 
thereby  increase  the  profit  of  his  labour  ;  or  he 
might  drive  him  into  the  resource  of  absconding,  and 
prowling  like  a  wolf  for  food.  Ought  the  prerogatives 
of  ownership  to  inflict  such  unjust  calamities  upon  a 
free  people  ?  Are  they  not  infinitely  more  grievous 
than  the  ancient  royal  prerogative  of  purvevance  ? 
One  grievance  robbed  openly,  the  other  robs  secret- 
ly ;  one  was  subject  to  some  legal  regulation,  the  o- 
ther  is  subject  to  none  ;  one  paid  something,  the 
other  pays  nothing.  Can  agriculture  or  industry 
flourish  here  under  the  burden  of  having  an  infinite 
number  of  roguish  and  runaway  slaves  living  at  free 
quarter  upon  them,  when  they  could  not  in  England 
bear  the  purveyance  of  a  single  king  ?  The  slave 
himself  may  have  imbibed  from  a  vicious  disposition, 
a  habit  of  indiscriminate  theft,  so  ruinous  and  dis- 
heartening to  industry  ;  nor  can  any  excuse  justify 
his  robberies  from  the  ir.nocent.  The  insufficiency 
of  the  laws  to  correct  these  evils,  will  be  discerned 
by  comparing  the  number  of  such  robberies,  with  the 
instances  of  their  receiving  any  species  of  punish- 
ment. The  object  of  punishment  is  to  deter  by  ex- 
ample,  and  not  to  gratify  the  passion  of  revenge 

But  this  trivial  risque  amounts  almost  to  the  encou- 
ragement of  impunity  ;  and  leaves  only  to  the  public 
that  security  against  the  thefts  of  slaves,  arising  from 
their  love  of  moral  rectitude,  without  any  apprehen- 
sion of  punishment.  Agriculture  in  the  slave  states, 
is  every  where  languishing  under  this  mertif\  ing  and 
consuming  malady.  She  possesses  no  moveable  which 
she  can  call  her  own.  Bleeding  continually  under 
these  numberless  scarifications,  legislatures  continue 
to  act  towards  her,  like  surgeons  who  sh>.uld  desert 
a  patient  covered  with  wounds,  because  he  was  not 
quite  dead.  It  would  be  better  to  cure  her  bv  pro., 
tecting  her  property.  A  law,  compelling  the  sale  of 
every  slave  who  should  run  away  or  be  convicted  of 


ass  ?«otz?. 

theft,  out  of  the  state,  or  at  a  considerable  distance 
from  his  place  of  residence,  would  operate  consider- 
ably towards  correcting  these  great  evils.     If  it? 
ecution  was  ensured,  as  might  t    -.       ifceffecte 
would   strongly  influence  both  the    master   and  the 
slave;  it  would  on!  h  in  a  vei  j 

the  prerogative ;    :  .  for  their  common  good. 

and  it  wculd  render  the  remaining  mass  of  those  pre- 
rogatives infir..  ietrimental  to  nati: 
peri:- 


[Xote  C— Pa.§re   113.] 

The  foregoing  essays  having  been  written  several 
\Tears  past,  subsequent  experience  has  made  some 
change  in  a  few  of   the  author's  opinions.    Those  in 

..on  to  the  essential  article  of  manuring  are 
ted  i;:  I 

The  exteat    :  surface  now  m-.nured  upon  the  same 
farm,  by  a  more  careful  employment  of  the  same  re- 
sources, has  so  far  exceeded  his  expectations.  3S  to 
have  transfered  his  prefeienceas  means  cf  improv- 
ing the  s: .  :losing  to  manuring,  without  how- 
;  the   value  cf  the  former  in  his  -pinion, 
i    :  two  hundred  acres  aided  by  both,  produced 
;  raging  fifty  bushels 
an  acre,  and  another  of  eighty,  aided  only  by  inclos- 
ing :..  The  first 
beir  c:                                            second  one  third  beyond 
:s  when  last  in  culture.    Un- 
-     f  the  stocks  quoted,   the  surface 
undred  acres,  and 
Mill-                 r.d  to  one  hundred  and  thiity.     It  is 
contemplated  tc  e:-:.tr.d  it.  ur.til  it  reaches  annually 
a  sp                                                                 corn  crop  of 
the  farm.     There                                    raps  furnishes 
add-                                             ".  the  chief  bs sis  of  this 

position  "  that  ten  cul- 
not  produce  the  means  of  manur- 
:te  erroneous.     Four  acres  already  pro- 
duct able   of  manuring  one,  frcm   the  corn 
:;  e  of  the  bread  stuff  they 
far  sale.     By  removing  the  cattle  and  sheep 
the  spring  from  the  farm  pens,  and  fori 


NOTES.  26S 

ing  to  return  them  thither  until  late  in  the  fall,  the 
space  manured  by  penning  is  greatly  extended,  and 
the  manure  raised  in  the  farm  pens  but  little  dimi- 
nished, because  its  quantity  is  regulated  by  litter. — 
This  is  in  a  small  degree  diminished  by  extending  the 
period  of  penning,  and  as  both  cattle  and  sheep  will 
require  some  food,  early  in  the  spring  and  late  in  the 
fall  in  these  pens,  the  litter  arising  from  that  food 
will  enable  the  farmer  more  frequently  to  remove  the 
pens  at  these  seasons,  whilst  a  mixture  of  various 
manures  causes  a  greater  benefit  to  the  soil.  These 
pens  on  removal  are  fallowed  in  high  ridges  five  and 
an  half  feet  wide,  and  those  thus  treated  before  the 
middle  ofAugust,ifthe  land  is  strong,  cover  themselves 
with  a  heavy  coat  of  grass,  furnishing  a  fine  pabulum 
for  a  bushel  of  gypsum  to  the  acre,  to  be  sown  therev- 
on.  This  cover,  by  reversing  the  ridges,  is  com- 
pletely buried,  and  bestows  on  the  ground  a  second 
valuable  manuring.  The  hog  pens  are  managed  in 
the  same  way,  excluding  the  litter,  not  because  it 
would  be  useless,  but  because  it  is  used  otherwise. — 
For  these,  stiff  cold  soils  are  selected.  Thus  the 
same  stocks  have  been  brought  to  manure  by  pen- 
ning, nearly  double  the  surface  quoted.  In  the  win- 
ter, all  the  farm  pens  are  littered  daily  and  copiously 
with  corn  stalks.  Each  ten  ordinary  sheep  will  by 
this  means,  exclusive  of  the  summer's  penning,  raise 
manure  sufficient  for  one  acre  ;  and  that  raised  in 
the  stable  and  its  yard,  and  in  the  farm  pens  of  the 
cattle,  calves  and  fattlings,  has  sufficed  to  produce 
the  result  stated  in  this  note.  Instead  of  applying 
the  corn  cobs  in  the  former  mode,  thev  are  weekly 
scattered  in  the  pens  or  stable  yard  to  preserve  them 
from  the  fire,  where  they  absorb  a  rich  moisture  to 
be  bestowed  upon  the  earth  as  they  gradually  decay  ; 
thus  constituting  a  valuable  addition  to  the  manure, 
and  saving  the  labour  of  their  separate  removal,  and 
more  tedious  application  in  the  former  mode.  The 
augmentation  of  manure  thus  produced,  requires  a 
commencement  of  its  removal  early  in  March,  and 
b»  appropriating  a  small  portion  of  the  labour  of  the 
farm  to  this  object  for  one  month  before  the  com- 
mencement 'i  corn  planting,  that  left  to  be  subse- 
quently carried  out  will  be  finished  in  good  time. — 
The  holes  for  depositing  the  manure,  are  more  judi- 
oio'ish  arranged  under  the  direction  of  a  person  ou 
fc«»>seback,  (whose  elevation  and  .sole  attention  to  that 


26&  «     NOTES. 

object,  will  enable  him  accurately  to  distinguish  the 
variations  in  the  quality  of  the  land,  and  to  bestow 
the  manure  accordingly)  than  by  the  labourer  who 
walks,  measures,  and  digs.  By  equalizing  the  ferti- 
lity of  a  field,  the  crops  are  increased,  because  it  be- 
stows on  the  whole  surface  a  capacity  to  sustain  the 
same  quantity  of  seed,  and  renders  unnecessary  a 
multitude  of  discriminations  too  intricate  to  be  cor- 
rectly made.  The  rider  pronounces  aloud  the  num- 
ber at  which  the  walker  is  to  make  each  hole,  ex- 
tending or  contracting  the  distance  according  to  the 
variations  of  the  soil ;  and  the  walker  counts  aloud 
his  own  steps  to  this  number,  at  which  he  digs  a  hole 
as  a  mark  for  depositing  each  load  of  manure.  To 
a  farmer,  this  occupation  furnishes  an  agreeable 
mental  amusement. 

Two  great  errors  in  relation  to  the  use  of  corn 
stalks  as  manure,  are  prevalent.  One,  that  they 
ought  to  be  trodden  to  pieces;  the  other,  that  when 
it  is  too  late  to  effect  this,  it  is  good  management  te 
gather  and  lay  them  in  the  furrows,  to  remain  unco-i 
vered  for  a  year  or  two.  When  the  stalk  is  satura- 
ted with  the  moisture  of  the  farm  pen,  it  has  acquir- 
ed all  the  fertilizing  principles  it  can  hold,  in  that 
state.  It  acquires  none  from  being  trodden.  Its  po- 
rous texture  enables  it  speedily  to  absorb  what  it 
can  contain.  After  this  is  effected,  it  is  only  necessa- 
ry to  brin;;  it  into  a  putrescent  state.  When  the 
stalks  are  all  in,  this  is  soon  done,  by  covering  them 
with  straw,  chaff  or  tops.  It  will  not  require  above 
ten  days  in  the  common  March  weather,  after  a  rain. 
Thus  they  will  be  made  sufficiently  soft  and  brittle 
to  raise,  spread  and  plough  well  in.  Thtir  richness 
as  a  manure  will  be  discerned  by  their  capacity  to 
extract  salts  from  the  atmosphere  whilst  moist,  after 
they  are  raised,  in  a  quantity  sufficient  suddenly  to 
change  their  colour.  The  excessive  waste  or  loss 
they  sustain,  left  in  furrows  on  the  surface,  arises 
from  the  same  quality  by  which  the  rich  moisture 
of  the  farm  pen  throughout  the  winter,  is  absorbed 
and  saved  ;  namely,  their  extreme  porousness. — 
Their  surface  is  dry,  nothing  evaporates,  and  nothing 
tuns  from  them,  if  the  depth  of  litter  is  as  consider- 
able as  I  make  it.  As  absorbents,  no  litter  equals 
,them,  but  exposed  on  the  surface,  they  suffer  more 
than  any  other  from  evaporation. 

A  common  question  discloses  another  general  err^r 


NOTES.  265 

in  relation  to  manuring.  When  the  surface  manur- 
ed is  stated,  an  enquiry  after  the  number  of  stocks 
follows.  We  shall  never  succeed  to  a  great  extent, 
if  we  consider  animal  manure  in  any  other  light,  thnn 
as  a  kind  of  sugar  to  sweeten  the  copious  repasts  of 
vegetable,  with  which  we  ought  to  feed  the  earth. — 
It  mav  also,  mingled  with  vegetable  matter,  dispose 
the  mass  at  particular  periods  of  its  putrescency,  to 
extract  salts  from  the  atmosphere.  But  however 
useful  it  may  be,  the  epithet  "  animal"  is  only  to  be 
admitted  connected  with  a  recollection  of  its  origin. 
This  is  vegetable  matter,  of  which  animal  manure 
is  only  a  remnant,  having  undergone  one  or  two  se- 
cretions, and  the  diminution  arising  from  animal  per- 
spiration. Vegetable  matter  therefore  is  the  visible 
origin  of  manure.  If  atmosphere  is  its  source,  that 
can  only  be  reduced  to  a  visible  substance  by  vegeta- 
ble instrumentality.  Manuring  must  consequently 
be  regulated,  not  by  the  number  of  stocks,  but  by  skill 
and  industry  in  raising  and  applying  vegetable  mat- 
ter. Let  us  then  banish  from  the  agricultural  dialect 
this  misleading  question  ;  which  blinds  us  by  insinua- 
ting a  falsehood  ;  and  substitute  for  it  one,  which  dis- 
closes a  truth,  the  thorough  belief  of  which  must 
precede  agricultural  improvement.  The  correct 
question  is  "  how  many  acres  do  you  manure  for  each 
labourer  employed  on  the  farm  ?"  It  took  me  more 
years  to  reach  one,  than  to  exceed  four,  and  my 
stocks  were  rather  diminished,  as  the  space  manur- 
ed increased.  During  the  first  period,  the  delusion 
of  the  first  question  misguided  my  efforts  ;  duriug 
the  second,  they  were  directed  to  the  raising,  preser- 
ving and  applying  vegetable  matter  in  the  most  be- 
neficial mode  1  could.  How  far  manuring  may  be 
carried,  is  not  to  be  foreseen,  but  I  think  I  can  dis- 
cern through  the  remnant  of  the  mist  which  long  hid 
from  me  the  idea  of  its  being  pushed  to  four  acies 
for  e  ich  lobiurer,  a  possibility  of  its  being  exte  ded 
to  double  th  it  quantity. 

In  this  calculation  I  exclude  gypsum,  lime,  nvivle 
and  inclosing.  The  more  valu  ible  auxiliaries  they 
may  be  to  our  vegetable  resources,  the  more  our  suc- 
cess will  be  accelerated.  Vegetable  matter  only, 
can  bestow  on  gypsum  a  boundless  fertilizing  power, 
and  perhaps  it  may  be  also  a  necessaiy  ass>  ciate  of 
lime  and  marie,  with  neither  of  which  I  have  been 
able  to  make  any  satisfactory  experiments;  at  least, 
o. 


*66  NOTES. 

the  universal  capacity  of  creating  it  every  where  in 
great  quantities,  establishes  its  vast  superiority  over 
even- other  species  of  manure;  and  designates  it  as  the 
basis  of  agriculture.  Applied  in  greea  bushes  it  is 
much  more  beneficial  in  curing  galled  declivities, 
than  animal  manure.  I  use  it  with  great  advantage 
for  that  purpose,  and  also  for  manuring  level  land  in 
the  following  mode.  The  brush  is  laid  in  furrows, 
made  in  cultivating  corn,  as  deep  and  wide  as  ex- 
plained in  these  essays,  moderately  thick  and  then 
cut  to  make  it  lie  close,  that  it  may  not  be  removed 
by  the  winds.  There  it  remains  uncovered  for  three 
years.  By  applyingthe  brush  the  winter  succeeding  the 
culture  of  the  land  in  corn,  in  a  course  of  four  shirts,  it 
is  ready  for  the  plough  at  the  proper  time.  Even  the 
ridges,  as  well  as  the  furrows,  will  be  highly  improv- 
ed by  the  brush,  from  the  scattering  power  of  air  and 
moisture.  These  ridges  on  the  fourth  year,  are  re- 
versed to  cover  the  brush  by  this  time  in  a  putres- 
cent state,  and  thus  prepared  to  rot  under  grrund. — 
The  objections  to  the  other  modes  of  using  brush, 
wood,  which  I  have  tried  are  these.  Spread  over 
the  whole  surface  it  does  not  rot  sufficiently  in  three 
years  to  admit  of  being  ploughed  in,  without  greatly 
encumbering  the  plough.  Left  sufficiently  long  to 
avoid  this  inconvenience,  much  time  is  lost  without 
any  retribution  ;  and  much  of  the  manure  during  the 
latter  period  of  its  decay,  by  evaporation.  Drilled 
green  and  speedily  covered  with  earth,  the  wood  will 
not  rot  under  ground  so  as  net  to  incomnude  the 
plough  when  the  ridges  are  reversed  in  the  fourth 
year  afterwards.  This  preservation  of  the  wood,  di- 
minishes cr  delays  its  efficacy  as  a  mai  ure.  Drilled 
green,  lying  uncoverad  three  years,  then  covered  by 
the  plough  without  disturbing  it,  and  lying  four  years 
more  until  the  ridges  come  in  course  to  be  reversed, 
the  wood  is  made  useful  as  a  manure,  without  pro- 
ducing these  inconveniences.  I  have  u-ed  all  kinds 
of  brush  wood,  but  chiefly  pine  and  cedar.  1  he  lat- 
ter are  preferable  iu  a  small  degree  to  other  green 
wood,  when  both  are  applied  in  the  winter,  because 
of  their  leaves.  A  confidence  in  the  benefit  of  this 
mode  of  manuring,  has  induced  me  this  year  V  cut 
down  a  thicket  on  the  broken  ground  of  a  creek  a- 
round  a^el  field,  and  to  apply  the  brush  to  the  fur- 
rows of  the  Weakest  parts.  All  wood  of  above  two 
inches  diameter,  was  used  as  fuel.    The  residue  be- 


NOTES?  i2(i7 

stowed  a  handsome  dressing  on  double  the  surface  it 
grew  on.  The  land  it  came  from  was  not  capable  of 
cultivation,  and  the  growth  was  lean.  Being  inclos- 
ed, it  will  rapidly  grow  up  thicker,  and  aff.rd  peri- 
odical cuttings  for  the  same  purposes.  The  wood 
pays  for  the  labour,  and  the  manure  necessarily  dis- 
engaged from  the  fuel  wood,  is  an  additional  donation 
frum  such  lands,  (in  which  we  unfortunately  abound) 
capable  of  extending  our  means  for  manuring  very 
considerably,  and  of  conveniently  improving  fields 
inconveniently  situated  for  folding  or  farm  pens. 


[Xote  D Page  147.] 

Instead  of  laying  the  plough  aside,  until  the  first 
hand-hoeing  of  Indian  corn  takes  place,  it  is  proba- 
bly better  to  run  a  deep  furrow  with  a  large  plough 
drawn  by  two  horses,  and  having  a  long  mould  board, 
on  each  side  of  the  corn,  immediately  preceding  this 
hand-hoeing.  As  the  corn  is  very  low,  this  furrow 
must  be  run  so  far  from  it,  that  the  earth  raised  by 
the  mould  board  will  not  quite  reach  it,  but  be  left 
on  each  side,  so  as  to  form  a  narrow  trough  on  the 
ridge  in  which  the  corn  stands,  to  be  filled  up  by  the 
hand-hoeing  immediately  following  thi  furrow.  The 
hoe  will  have  little  else  to  do,  and  two  thirds  of  the 
labour  usually  attending  this  operation,  will  be  sav- 
ed. It  is  better  performed.  The  deep  furrow  de- 
stroys all  the  grass  in  its  range.  In  rows  five  and  an 
half  feet  wide,  the  earth  moved  by  the  helve  on  the 
left  of  the  share,  meets  and  covers  the  grass  in  the 
water  furrows  between  the  ridges.  And  the  earth 
thrown  up  by  the  share  and  the  mould  board  towards 
the  corn,  is  used  to  stifle  the  grass  in  the  trough  on 
the  top  of  the  ridge  and  about  the  young  corn  A 
hand-hoeing  in  the  usual  way,  is  infinitely  more  la- 
borious, and  in  humid  seasons,  from  its  shallowness, 
infinitely  less  effectual  in  destroying  the  grass,  whence 
it  is  often  enabled  suddenly  to  take  root  and  to  grow 
with  renovated  vigour  ;  somewhat  similar  to  the  ef- 
fect ot  scarifications  applied  to  green  swards  even  of 
wheat.  The  deep  ploughing  of  this  suggestion,  its 
acceleration  of  the  first  hand-hoeing,  and  its  sup- 
pression of  the  grass  whilst  it  is )  ouug  and  weak  by 


268  JF0TE9. 

a  cover  of  earth,  will  both  obstruct  this  misfortune, 
and  enable  the  coin  to  reap  great  benefit  from  the 
genial  weather  which  occurs  in  the  early  part  of  the 
summer,  instead  of  being  often  destroyed  by  it. 

If  Indian  corn  is  a  crop  of  such  value,  as  it  is  sup- 
posed to  be  in  these  essays,  the  selection  of  the  best 
species  is  an  object  of  importance.  The  little 
said  of  this,  arose  from  the  necessity  of  the  different 
climates  of  the  United  States  for  different  kinds.— 
But  the  vast  number  of  varieties  abounding  in  the 
same  latitudes,  disclose  a  want  of  spirit  for  fixing  so 
important  a  preference  as  that  of  the  best  over  the 
whole  rabble,  by  careful  experiments.  Those  which 
I  have  made  have  inculcated  the  opinion,  that  the 
species  which  combines  the  three  circumstances  of 
producing  the  most  stalk,  the  largest  cob,  and  the 
longest  grain,  is  the  best  for  the  latitude  of  38  degrees 
north.  The  small  flinty  forward  kind,  producing 
from  two  to  six  ears  on  a  stalk,  inspired  the  most 
hope  and  produced  the  most  disappointment  of  any 
I  have  tried.  Its  superiority  of  weight  was  counter- 
balanced by  many  disadvantages.  Early  kinds  are 
unexceptionable'  dwarfish,  and  the  latest  I  have  pro- 
cured has  the  largest  stalk.  The  length  ^f  the  grain, 
supposing  the  cob  to  be  equally  long  and  large,  deci- 
sively settles  the  superiority  of  farinaceous  product. 
The  longest  and  the  thickest  cob,  if  the  length  of  the 
grain  is  equal,  produces  the  most  corn.  The  size  of 
the  stalk  is  important,  if  vegetable  matter  possesses 
the  high  value  contended  for  in  these  essays,  and  if 
it  is  chief! «  extracted  from  the  atmosphere.  The 
size  of  the  plant  produces  some  economy  of  labour, 
besides  augmenting  our  drafts  from  the  fertilizing 
atmospherical  treasury,  because  we  can  gather  far 
more  grain,  stalk,  blade,  top,  shuck,  and  cob  in  the 
same  time,  when  the  plant  is  large,  than  when  it  is 
small.  I  have  discovered  no  good  reason  for  a  recent 
preference  of  yellow  to  white  corn,  except  that  a  fo- 
reign fashion  causes  the  former  at  this  juncture  to 
sell  best,  nor  any  benefit  from  several  trials  of  plant- 
ing seed  saved  from  twin  ears.  In  the  before  men- 
tioned latitude,  corn  constanth  push-s  out  barren 
shoots,  or  more  than  it  can  fi'l  with  grain,  which  pro- 
babl\  serve  to  impoverish  such  as  succeed.  If  so, 
there  would  be  no  advantage  gained,  could  we  in- 
crease their  number  by  planting  from  twins. 


NOTES.  26*9 

[Note  E.— Page  193.] 

The  mode  of  raising  hogs  has  continued  to  attract 
my  attention,  on  account  of  the  vnst  importance  it 
derives  from  its  connexion  with  live  fences.  If  it 
can  supply  us  with  meat,  without  obstructing  an  im- 
provement, by  which  the  agricultural  state  of  the 
Union  would  be  more  benefitted  than  by  any  other, 
its  usefulness  would  be  great  ;  but  if  it  will  also  sup- 
ply us  with  more  meat  than  the  present  mode,  no 
legislature  will  much  longer  suffer  a  state  to  languish 
under  the  evil  of  dead  fencing,  for  the  sake  of  dimi- 
nishing both  meat  and  bread.  Sensible  of  the  en- 
thusiasm with  which  human  nature  embraces  ail 
opinions  it  ardently  wishes  to  realize,  I  have  endea- 
voured in  these  essays  to  confine  myself  to  the  deci- 
sions of  experience,  and  to  avoid  the  delusions  of 
hope.  My  experience  of  the  recommended  mode  of 
raising  hogs,  has  for  several  years  resulted  in  a  far 
more  plentiful  supply  of  pork  without  purchasing, 
than  I  could  previously  afford  to  obtain  by  purcha- 
sing. It  has  also  as  strongly  convinced  me,  as  1  cat* 
be  convinced  without  an  exact  experiment,  that  the 
expences  of  raising  it  is  reimbursed  or  nearly  so  by 
the  manure  of  the  hogs  ;  and  that  the  alternative 
for  public  preference,  really  lies  between  an  expen- 
sive and  insufficient  supply  of  pork,  accompanied 
with  dead  fences  ;  and  an  expenseless  and  sufficient 
supply  of  the  same  article,  accompanied  with  live. 
The  recommended  mode  of  raising  hogs  is  improved* 
by  reserving  a  sufficient  number  of  breeding  sows  to 
insure  the  dependence  upon  those  under  one  year 
old  for  keeping  up  the  stock  ;  by  separating  the  large 
and  small  hogs  in  cold  weather,  to  prevent  the  latter 
from  being  smothered  ;  by  increasing  the  size  of  a 
pen  for  rne  hundred  of  different  ages,  to  an  acre  ;  by 
removing  it  once  a  fortnight,  when  the  hogs  are  con- 
stantlv  confined,  or  every  four  weeks,  when  penned 
of  nights  only,  and  instantly  ploughing  up  the  ground 
in  high  five  feet  and  an  half  ridges,  to  be  reversed 
when  cultivated  ;  by  ^  king  corn  until  it  is  sour,  in 
a  number  of  barrels  sulfickiit  to  provide  in  successi- 
on, according  to  the  warmth  of  tlie  season,  their 
Chief  food  in  this  state  ;  by  giving  them  the  sour  wa- 
ter to  drink  as  each  barrel  is  emptied  ;  by  a  small 
allowance  of  any  vegetable  food  after  the  pumpkins 
are  expended  ;  (they  will  eat  cornstalks  in  the  early 


2*0  NOTES. 

part  of  the  winter)  by  penning  them  without  rii 
such   food  is  scarce,  on  ground   well  covered  with 
any  kind  of  grass,  the  r  :ch  will  contribute 

eir  healu..  e  land  Era 

plough;  and  by  using  them  :'  era- 

dicate the  gariick,  than  which  no  food  is  healthier. 


[Note  F.— Page  201.] 

Since  these  essays  were  written,  my  experiments 
:  dar  hedging   have   become  two    or  three  years 
.    er,  and  have  remored  every    doubt  of  its  cheap - 
.    pricic ability    and   irr.  They 

menced  by  planting  a  single  row  of  cedars  on  the 
inside   . :    :.  :";    ce,  two  feet  apart,  about  eight  inches 
»  the  summit  of  the  bank  at  a    titch.     The 

_  ".urate  the  young  plr-.nts,  to 
crop  or  to  manure  them,  and  to  plant  a  second  row 
on  the  outside  of  the  fence,  were  for  several  \ears 
committed.  Struggling  with  hungry  rivals  for  a 
scanty    food   they  .•  -    meager  and 

wet  branches  began  to  perish  from 
omitting  to  check  theperpenc.iculi.:  growth  by  crop- 
ping, and  the  hope  of  training  the  cedar  intc  a  1 

ed  almost  desperate.     Thcugh  the  land  is  gene- 
rally- poor,  manuring  (a  small  dressing  with  b 

.  But  topping, 
iteral    branches,  culture,  and    tilling 
nto  them  and  covering   boughs  to 
.  leading  out   their  ends  have  been   imper- 
fect! i  for  two  years.     Another  row  of  ce- 
nas  also  been  ]  .he  fence. 
old  hedge  has  r>een  so  h  ghly  improved  by  these 
'.-.'.   nsiderable  aids,  as  to  have  assumed  a  handsome 
appearance,  and  to  promise  a  speedy  exhibition  of  a 
farm  incited  b  •  a  five  fence. 
I   .e  cedar  planted   in  a  good    soil,  well   manured 
*        properly   cultivated,    cropped  at  one  year's  old 
and                                     rises  only  as  it  spreads  ;  and 
id  at  the  ends  nf  its  branches,  those  excepted; 
e  to  fill  gaps  ;  will   thicken 
like  box  ;  and  after  it  is  brought 
.t  intended  height,  by    raising  the  bank  of  the 
ill  jt  :~~  rlhrTT      outact   with  it.     My  expeiT- 


NOTES.  271 

meat  has  been  more  imperfectly  made  from  the  cir- 
cumstance of  its  embracing  at  once  a  large  farm  ; 
made  upon  a  smaller  scale  and  more  skilfully,  an 
example  would  speedily  appear,  which  would  be  ar- 
dently copied. 

Green  pine  or  cedar  brush  has  been  used  as  a  dres- 
sing to  the  hedge  as  follows.  The  earth  is  shaved 
downwards  on  each  face  of  the  bank  if  the  ditch,  so 
as  just  to  take  off  the  grass  and  not  to  injure  the  roots 
of  the  young  hedge,  and  left  in  a  ridge.  The  brush 
is  laid  in  a  line  with  the  hedge  eighteen  inches  wide, 
so  as  to  cover  the  ground.  After  it  is  in  danger  of  be- 
ing perforated  by  weeds  or  grass,  the  ridge  of  earth 
shaved  down  is  thrown  upon  it.  To  the  other  bene- 
fits of  this  process,  that  of  protecting  the  young  cedars 
against  the  sun,  which  strikes  the  face  of  banks  with 
great  force,  is  to  be  added.  In  some  situations  this 
protection  is  indispensable.  By  drawing  down  and 
returning  this  mixture  of  earth  and  brush  alternate- 
ly, as  the  hedge  requires  weeding,  it  receives  both 
manure  and  cultivation,  at  a  very  trivial  expence  of 
labour. 

No  doubt  can  exist,  that  the  thin  population  of  a 
great  portion  of  the  United  States,  proceeds  from  the 
poverty  of  the  soil,  whether  it  be  natural  or  artificial. 
In  the  latter  case,  patriotism  ought  to  sicken  with 
the  anticipation  of  the  censure  which  posterity  will 
see  written  in  the  face  of  the  country.  These  words 
will  be  engraved  on  it.  "  Your  ancestors,  like  Indi- 
ans, proved  their  regard  for  the  children  by  scalp- 
ing the  mother."  In  the  former,  is  it  wise,  patriotic 
or  pious,  to  neglect  the  means  for  its  improvement  ? 
Live  fences  attended  with  appk-  trees  would,  1  have  no 
doubt  more  than  double  the  population  of  the  eastern 
sandy  portions  of  the  United  States.  Let  the  reader 
compute  before  he  decides  upon  this  opinion,  and  test 
it  by  figures.  The  savings  of  wood,  of  labour,  and  of 
the  expence  in  foreign  liquors,  are  items  going  to  an 
increase  of  population,  because  these  savings  must  be 
carried  to  some  productive  object  for  its  sustenance. 
The  conversion  of  the  brushwood  now  lost  in  making 
dead  fences,  into  manure,  is  a  smaller  item  of  the 
same  nature.  But  the  single  advantage  of  securing 
to  agriculture  the  benefit  of  making  a  permanent  and 
constant  use  of  atmospherical  manure,  arising  from 
the  security  of  live  inclosures,  alone  suffices  to  sus- 
tain the  opinion.    By  gradually   spreading  fertility 


3T2  xote«. 

overbarre  : losing  -will  increase  pppulati        «• 

an  e::  -  jrate  with  its  own  progress.    For 

•'.em  of  closing  the  pores  of  the  earth  against  the 
inhalation  of  those  qualities  of  the  atmosphere,  by 
which  its  surface  is  fertilized,  it  will  enable  us  to 
open  thtra.  Wealth  instead  of  poverty  ;  national 
stre.  |  :  weakness  ;  and  perhaps  liberty 

m arch  in  the  train  of  permanent 
ed  against  computati- 
ed  in  figures,  by  comparisons  arising  from 
superficial  prejudices.  Beggary  admires  the  luxury 
of  competence,  and  mediocrity  chuckles  over  her 
wealth,  when  she  beholds  poverty.  So  we  draw  opi- 
nions concerning  the  fertility  and  improvement  of  a 
whole  co_  m    comparisons  made  among  cur- 

bing darkness  up'>n  truth,  because 
always  influenced  by  several  of  the  worst  or  weakest 
-3ns  of  human  nature.     To  provide  prosperity 
for   nations  by    the  cool    calculations  of  reason,    and. 
not  to  devote  posterity  to  wretchedness  from  the  odi- 
ous prejudices  implanted  by  such  shallow7  compari- 
.itutes  the  duty  of'legislatures,  and  the  real 
&  of  patriots.     The  appalling  difference  between 
the  average  product  of  wheat  in  this  country  and  in 
E'  glai    ..    mght  to   dissipate   our  delusion  as  to  the 
-    Bty  of  our   sril,  to  awaken  our  enquiries 
after  the  causes   of  an  inferiority  so  deplorable,  and 
to  rouse    all  our  capacities   in  search  of  a  remedy. 
Our  wretched,   expensive  and  ineffectual  mode  of 
-ing,  is  in  my  view  the  chief  of  those  causes.  No 
history  has   preserved,  and    no  country   exhibits,  a 
good  system  of  agriculture  in  union   with  dead  wood 
Homer,  in  his  description  of  a  Phceatian  gar- 
den, informs  us,  that  green  fences  were  understood 
and  used  in  his  I  i 

"  Four  acres  was  the  allotted  space  of  ground, 
"  Fenced  with  a  green  inclosure  all  around.'" 

He'  -tone  and  thorn  inclczures,   selects  the 

-i  to  adorn  his  most  splendid  horticultural  scene, 

and    -  to  dead  wood  fences.     Were 

exploded  abo\e  three    thousand   years  ago,  to 

i  as  an  evidence   of  man's  rotary  dis- 

r.eed  not   dive   into  antiquity,  nor 

■  er   the  glebe    to   be  „uestion.      At 

the  waste  of  soil  graduated  from  north 

nth,  by  some  inexplicable  circumstance,  distinct 


NOTES.  U76 

from  original  fertility.  The  different  modes  of  fenc- 
ing is  pr<  b  tbly  that  circumstance.  In  Connecticut, 
I  have  seen  many  fields  apparently  so  naturally  poor 
and  stoney,  that-I  could  never  account  for  their  ferti- 
lity, until  I  discovered  the  advantages  of  permanent 
inclosures,  a.id  recollected  that  they  were  surround- 
ed by  stone  fences.  Prejudice,  sustained  by  consci- 
ence, is  too  strong  to  be  subdued  by  reason,  and  too 
respectable  on  account  of  its  honesty,  to  deserve  con- 
tempt. Yet  it  ought  to  be  persuaded  by  its  senses, 
and  to  be  induced  to  follow  its  own  interest  by  the 
plainest  evidence.  Though  at  length  convinced  thro' 
its  eyes,  of  the  benefits  arising  from  inclosing,  it  will 
cot  be  convinced  through  its  mouth,  that  the  old  mode 
of  raising  meat  by  ranges  (as  they  are  called)  is  in- 
sufficient for  the  supply  of  a  thin  population,  and  that 
the  effect  of  its  conviction  of  one  err  r  is  defeated,  by 
its  persistence  in  another.  Dead  wooden  fences  are 
too  transitory,  too  subject  to  imperfections  arising 
from  idleness  or  accident,  and  too  easily  impaired  by- 
thoughtless  or  malicious  trespassers,  to  guarantee  to 
a  nation  the  benefits  of  an  inclosing  system.  They 
are  here  to-day  and  gone  to-morrow.  Live,  possess 
the  rights  and  the  respect  of  a  freehold.  Attached 
to  the  soil,  they  soon  efface  the  unjust  and  ruinous 
prejudice,  nurtured  by  their  evanescent  rival  "  that 
arable  lands,  when  out  of  actual  culture,  ought  to  be 
turned  into  a  common."  This  opinion,  (suggested  by 
a  national  wish  to  obtain  good  and  sufficient  supplies 
of  grass,  and  gratified  throughout  a  great  portion  of 
the  union,  as  a  wish  for  such  supplies  of  h<  rses,  would 
be  gratified,  by  throwing  open  every  stable  to  all  who 
wanted  thrn)  is  undoubtedly  entitled  to  denunciation 
as  a  prejudice,  if  prejudice  exists  among  mankind. 

My  wish  for  a  better  understanding  was  never 
stronger  than  in  considering  this  subject,  from  a  con- 
viction that  its  gratification  culd  never  have  been 
more  useful  to  the  poblick.  Throughout  the  world, 
cuntne-  inclosed  by  stone  or  live  fences,  and  those 
inclosed  by  dead  wood,  exhibit  the  contrast  between 
cadaverous  decripitude  an,;  blooming  youth.  The 
richest  c>  unty  nf  Virginia  bel  <w  the  mountains,  pain- 
ted on  ti.e  same  canvass,  would  be  a  foil  to  the  poor- 
est of  Connecticut.  The  incapacity  of  the  firsi,  for 
rendering  inclosing  subservient  tot  t  improvement 
of  land,  by  excluding  ruinous  or  injudicious  gv  .z;  g  ; 
and  the  capacity  of  the  latter  to  avail  itself  oi  this 
24.    • 


27i  SOTES. 

agricultural  panacea,  is  a  chief  cause  of  the  contrast. 
In  Britain,  live  fences  are  substituted  for  stone, 
vrhere  the  latter  is  not  to  be  had,  and  often  prefer- 
red to  it ;  and  are  by  wide  experience  demonstrated 
to  be  a  sound  sponsor  for  an  excellent  state  of  agri- 
culture ;  here,  the  demonstration  that  dead  wooden 
Fences  ensures  a  bad  state  of  agriculture  is  as  wide. 
Does  truth  require  more  than  two  demonstrations? 
If  permanent  fences  aie  indispensable  for  the  pur- 
p  se  of  changing  the  state  of  our  agriculture  from 
bhd  to  gor d,  they  are  also  necessary  for  the  preser- 
vation cf  our  happiness.  The  portion  of  liberty  and 
h.ppiness  enjoyed  under  the  expensive  system  of  go- 
vernment existing  in  Britain,  is  owing  to  the  produc- 
tiveness of  labour  ;  and  not  to  the  operatic  ns  of  the 
paper,  patronage,  paity  and  official  conspiracy  for 
pilfering  that  labour  as  the  ingenious  conspirators 
pretend.  Thrugh  her  average  product  of  wheat  is 
thirty-five  bushels,  worth  at  le^st  one  hundred  and 
five  dollars,  she  finds  it  better  to  convert  so  much  of 
her  land  and  labour  to  the  still  more  profitable  ob- 
jects of  raising  wool,  cheese,  meat,  with  other  agri- 
cultural products,  and  to  manufacturing,  as  to  have 
occc.:  x  importation    f  bread-stuff.     To  this 

great  productiveness  of  iabour  it  is  owing,  that  she  is 
the  happiest  and  freest  country  of  Eurrpe,  under  the 
greatest  load  of  pecuniary  expenditure.  In  the  U- 
niteci  States,  agriculture  must  for  ages  giaduate  the 
productive-ess  of  labour,  in  spite  of  the  projects  of 
statesmen,  and  the  fallacy  of  stockjobbing.  If  »ve 
rush  into  English  extravagance  without  gaining  the 
productiveness  in  that  occupation  which  must  feed 
it,  the  majority  of  the  people  must  be  speedily  ground 
down  to  a  degree  of  poverty,  below  an  ability  to  pre- 
serve a  free  government,  or  to  acquire  personal  hap- 
p;  ess.  Let  u>.  therefore  prcvid"  the  foundation,  be- 
fore we  rear  this  splendid  superstructure,  by  abolish- 
ing a  mode  of  inclosing  lands  w  hich  produces  nothh.g, 
c  nsuroes  a  great  portion  of  our  labour,  and  by  im- 
poverishing the  soil,  daily  diminishes  the  productive- 
ness of  the  residue. 


NOTES.  275 

[Note  G.— Page  257.] 

A  date  being  necessary  for  estimating  the  opinions 
contained  in  the  foregoing  essays,  the  reader  is  in- 
formed, that  they  appeared  in  the  ephemeral  co- 
lumns of  a  newspaper,  before  the  year  1810,  and 
that  the  notes  were  written  in  the  beginning  of  the 
year  1814.  Though  the  last  number  was  better  cal- 
culated for  the  place  of  its  original  appearance,  (as 
-weil  as  some  other  parts  of  the  work)  than  for  that 
it  now  unexpectedly  occupies,  it  is suffered  to  remain, 
because  however  light,  it  is  true  ;  hut  lest  its  tone 
may  infect  its  matter,  it  seems  proper  to  advert  to  the 
same  subject  more  seriously. 

Society  is  unavoidably  made  up  of  two  interests 
only,  in  one  of  which  all  special  ana  particular  modi- 
fications of  interest  are  included  ;  namely,  one  sub- 
sisting by  industry  ;  the  other,  bylaw.  Government 
is  instituted  for  the  happiness  of  the  first  interest,  but 
belonging  itself  to  the  second,  it  is  perpetually  drawn 
towards  that  by  the  strongest  cords.  Therefore,  unless 
the  first  is  able  very  accurately  to  distinguish  between 
laws  calculated  to  do  it  a  benefit  or  an  injury,  i;i  :nust 
be  gradually  sacrificed  to  the  appetites  of  the  second, 
because  government,  a  member  of  the  second,  legis- 
lates. All  men  enjoying  honour,  power  or  wealth  by 
law,  or  striving  to  acquire  either  through  that  chan- 
nel, are  like  coin  struck  with  the  same  dies.  The 
engravers,  avarice  and  ambition,  constantly  mark 
the  same  etching,  and  the  aqua  fortis,  self-interest, 
indelibly  imprints  it  on  the  human  mind.  From  this 
fact,  the  preference  of  a  republican  government  is 
deduced,  as  being  calculated  for  checking  the  natu- 
ral disposition  of  legislatures  or  the  government,  to 
favour  the  minor  class,  composed  of  legal  or  factitious 
interests,  at  the  expence  of  the  major  class,  compos- 
ed of  natural  interests  ;  including  all  who  subsist,  not 
by  means  <  f  It  gal  donations,  but  by  useful  talents  in 
every  form,  such  as  those  employed  in  agriculture, 
manufacturing,  tuition,  physick,  and  all  trades  and 
scientific  professions.  The  propensity  of  law  to  sa- 
crifice the  great  or  natural  interest  of  nations,  to  the 
class  of  little  or  factitious  interests,  arises  from  two 
causes  ;  on--,  the  government  being  the  matrix  of  the 
latter,  views  her  pr  geny  with  the  eyes  of  an  owl,  and 
iders  them  i  s  beautiful ;  the  other,  that  although 
la  Mi  can  enable  the  small  class  to  live  on  the  great  one, 


276  a?OTE». 

it  cannot  enab'e  the  great  class  to  live  upon  the  small 
one  ;  uniting  to  pr  nluce  this  propensity  in  a  degree  so 
violent,  that  mankind  have  pronounced  it  irresistible, 
except  by  a  countervailing  union  between  strong 
republican  fetters  upon  government,  and  a  degree 
of  political  knowledge  in  the  major  class,  sufficient 
to  prevent  these  fetters  from  being  broke*  by  laws. 
The  remedy  is  so  rare,  that  many  honest  men  doubt 
of  its  ex  *:ence  ;  andhave  concluded  in  despair,  that 
the  major  class  or  general  interest  of  a  natr  n,  must 
inevitably  become  the  slave  of  the  minor  cr  factitious 
interest  in  some  mode.  Others  believe,  that  by  ex- 
citingthe  genera!  inteiest  to  watch,  to  think,  and  to 
judge  for  itself,  its  intellect  will  be  brightened,  and 
its  rights  preserved.  But  all  agree,  that  neither  any 
individual  nor  any  intce^t  dictated  to  by  another, 
can]  d  ignorance  universally 

'very.     Elect]  n  has  no  power  be* 
I  a  charter  or  a  coin  mission,  to  prevent  the  elec- 
y  his  elect  inn   from  the 
ral  interest,  to  the  little  class 
of  factitious  or  legal  interest ;  on  the  contrary,  the 
structure  of  republican  government  is  raised  upon 
the  principle,  that  it  necessarily  transfers  him  from 
one  to  the  other,    at  least  in    mos1-   instances.     This 
■  admitted  by  the  elected  themselves. 
They  separate  into  two  parties,  called  inns  and  outs. 
The  inns  say  that   the   outs  are  influenced  bv  a  de- 
sire to  get  in,  and  the  outs,  that  the  inns  are  influenc- 
ed by  a  desire  to  keep  in.     Agreeing  that  both  be- 
•  to  the  minor  class,  and  neither  to  the  major  class. 
:h    nn  neither  get  in  nor  keep  in  ;    these  two 
•  of  the  minor  class  vote  in  constant  oppositi- 
ise  they  stand  in  e?.ch  ether's   way,  which 
.  possibly  happen  if  they  were  genuine  mem- 
of  the  general  interest  cl  iss.     How  then  car.  the 
.ss  expect  happiness  from  this  species  of 
:al  gambling  for  a  rich  stake  which  it  pays,  and 
>lers  alternately  win,  if  it  has  no  skill  in  the 
game  ? 

Ag  he  most  powerful  member  of  the 

-  constituting  the  general  interest,  but  if  her  sons 
are  too  ignorant  to  use  this  power  with  discretion, 
(like  a  body  of  elephants  thrown  into  confusion  in  a 
battle",  they  rush  in  every  direction  trampling  down 
friends  and  foes  for  a  short  time,  and  inevitably  be- 
e  an  easy  prey  to   their  enemies.     As  the  most 


NOTES.  %7i 

powerful  individual  constituting  the  major  class  of 
general  interest,  the  political  ignorance  of  agricul- 
ture, would  of  course  destroy  the  rights  of  the  whole 
class.  If  she  divides  herself  between  any  of  the 
members  of  the  inferior  class,  each  of  her  moieties 
enlist  under  an  avistocratical  or  monarchical  power; 
whether  it  be  called  executive,  legislative,  credit  or 
charter,  and  the  member  obtaining  the  victory  by  her 
aid,  becomes  her  master.  Just  as  in  a  division  of  her 
forces  between  a  king  and  a  nobility,  the  king  or 
the  nobility  and  not  agriculture  gains  a  victory,  both 
over  her,  and  over  all  her  weaker  associates  in  the 
class  of  the  general  interest. 

As  there  .ire  two  classes  of  interest  only  in  society, 
there  are  also  only  two  political  codes,  each  appro- 
priated by  nature  to  one  class.  The  code  of  the  mi- 
nor class  is  constituted  of  intrigues  and  stratagems  to 
beguile  the  major  class,  and  to  advanr.e  the  separate 
interest?  of  the  individuals,  parties  and  legal  combi- 
nations, of  which  the  minor  class  is  compounded. — 
The  c  de  of  the  major  class  consists  of  good  moral 
principles,  by  which  the  national  rights  and  happiness 
can  only  be  preserved.  The  guilt  of  offensive  war, 
and  the  virtue  of  defensive,  are  the  essential  qualities 
of  the  respective  odes.  One  is  compounded  of  the 
best,  and  the  other  of  the  worst  qualities  of  human 
nature;  and  the  members  of  the  general  or  natural 
interest  of  society,  can  never  avoid  oppression  nor 
sustain  a  just  and  free  government,  unless  they  are 
skilled  in  both. 
As  the  extension  of  comfort  and  happiness  is  the  only 
good  motive  for  writing  an  agricultural  book,  what- 
ever would  dele  ;t  the  end  belongs  to  the  subject ; 
and  as  a  lethal  profusion  in  overstocking  a  nation  with 
Members  of  the  minor  class,  is  the  solitary  process 
for  enslaving  it,  unless  the  major  class  understands 
the  sublime  branch  of  ethicks,  namely  political  mo- 
rality, it  cannot  counteract  this  process.  Thus  only 
can  it  distinguish  between  laws  and  projects  calcula- 
ted for  benefitting  or  injuring  the  nation.  This  science 
only  can  prevent  the  liberty,  the  virtue,  the  happi- 
ness, the  bravery  and  the  talents  of  the  nation  1  ,11 
being  extinguishe'l.  The  treasury  of  the  United 
States  has  been  cit<*d  «s  a  proper  subject  for  its  ap- 
plication. If  the  agricultural  and  other  members  of 
th<  major  class  should  discern  that  the  president  had 
become  a  king  of  the  treasury,  surrounded  with  n»- 


%?8  XOTES. 

minal  checks  and  balances  appointed  by  himself;  if 
they  should  discern  that  the  representatives  of  the 
people  were  convinced  of  a  great  waste  of  publick 
money,  and  yet  ignorant  of  the  modes  by  which  it 
was  effected;  if  they  should  recollect  the  consequen- 
ces of  such  an  error  in  the  English  form  of  govern- 
ment ;  and  if  they  knew  that  nations  were  enslaved 
by  a  corrupting  application  of  their  own  treasure, 
would  n<"t  the  correction  of  the  evil  be  founded  in 
genuine  political  morality,  and  be  plainly  adverse  to 
the  erroneous  and  flagitious  political  code  of  the  mi- 
nor class. 

The  intimate  connexion  between  agriculture  and 
the  militia,  arises  fr  m  theirbeing  both  interests  be- 
longing to  the  major  oi  general  class  of  national  in- 
terest, of  such  magnitude,  that  they  must  live  or  pe- 
rish, politically,  together  ;  and  the  rights  of  the  whole 
class  will  be  tost  by  the  subjection  of  either.  By 
transfering  the  power  of  the  purse  from  agriculture 
to  the  stockjobbers,  or  the  p  wer  of  the  sword  from 
the  militia  to  a  mercenary  army,  the  destruction  of 
a  free  form  of  government  naturally  ensues.  This 
single  consequence  suffices  to  refute  two  hundred 
thousand  artifices  eternally  practised  by  the  sundry 
members  of  the  minor  class  to  discredit  the  militia. 
The>  might  be  refuted  by  an  hundred  thousand  facts. 
The  most  eminent  periods  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
were  inspired  by  an  union  between  a  militia  and  a 
considerable  degree  of  political  knowledge  in  the  ma- 
jor class.  Thermopo.e  was  defended,  and  Xerxes 
defeated  by  militia  The  Rom  An  empire  was  creat- 
ed and  destroyed  by  militia.  England  and  the  Indi- 
ans have  often  felt  the  militia  of  the  United  States. 
Europe  was  repulsed  by  the  militia  of  France  and 
the  career  of  France  ai  rested  by  the  militia  of  Sp  'in. 
The  i.ride,  '.he  habits  and  the  interest  of  mercenary* 
armies  is  however  its  hist  riographer,  and  the  hatred 
of  government -and  parties,  its  patron.  These  con- 
vert it>  tulogy  into  u  crime.  "It  is  unfit"  say  they, 
44  for  'he  execuf.  n  i  f  the  projects  of  statesmen,  and 
hence  diminishes  the  energy  of  government."  But 
it  is  the  best  security  against  foreign  conquest,  and 
the  only  security  against  domestic  oppression  from 
a  c  >mbination  anions*  the  members  of  the  minor  in- 
terest ;  nor  will  any  project  plainly  calculated  to  ad- 
vance the  happiness  or  secure  the  liberty  of  the  ge- 
neral interest  ever  fail  of  finding  a  complete  security 


NOTES.  2,79 

in  the  power  of  a  militia,  organized  to  sustain  and 
not  to  betray  that  inU  rest,  fiow  often  has  the  zeal, 
virtue  md  courage  of  a  militia,  burst  through  the 
artifices  or  neglect  of  the  minor  interest  for  suppress- 
ing all  three,  and  demonstrated  its  natural  alliance 
with  political  morality  and  national  liberty. 


ERRATA. 


The  reader  will  correct  the  following  er- 
rata with  his  pea* 

Page  21,  line  IS,  for  "  of  the  fraud"  read,  of  fraud. 

32,  1,  for  "blessings"  read,  blessing. 

36,  24,  for  "  is"  read,  its. 

48,  31,  after  "take"  read,  a. 

55,  1,  for  "  union  in"  read,  union  of. 

56,  10  for  "require"  read,  acquire. 

64,  35,  for  "  few"  read,  fewer. 

65,  12,  for  •*  with"  read,  in. 

68,  4,  for  "  Archimides"  read.Archimedes". 

70,  20,  for  "  two"  read,  too. 

89,  34,  for  "  on"  read,  in. 

101,  17,  for  "a  good  crop"  read,  a  crop. 

104,  36,  ior  "  cold"  re  d,  hold. 

113,  2.t,  for  "  opposed"  read,  exposed. 

116,  13,  for  '  cnistians,"  read.  Christians. 

153,  11,  for  "exception"  read,  exceptions,. 

169,  25,  for  "  both  for"  read,  both  to. 

195,  29,  for  M  for"  read,  trom. 

198,  3,  for  **  a  vast"  read,  vast. 


INDEX. 


Page, 

The  Present  State  of  AgricuVure  9 

The  Political  State  of  Agriculture  61 

Slavery 57 

Overseers 68 

Inclosing 72 

Manuring 87 

Labour 115 

Indian  Corn     ........  130 

Ploughing 1+8 

Culuiiferous  Crops 153 

Succulent  Crops 157 

Leguminous  Crops 161 

Live  Clock 16* 

Sheep 17  9 

Eogs 182 

Succession  of  Crop:;     .....  19i 

Live  Fences 198 

Orchards 202 

draining 206 

Tobacco 232 

The  Econoni    of  Agriculture     .     .  236 

The  Pleasures  of  Agriculture        .     .  2-il 

The  Rights  of  Agriculture     .     .     .  2+6 

A&ricuiiuie  aud  the  Militia     .     .    .  232 


me'm 


Its! 


